Tennessee Greenbelt Program
"The purpose of the Agricultural, Forest and Open Space Land Act of 1976 ('greenbelt') is to help preserve agricultural, forest, and open space land. This is accomplished by valuing these lands based upon their present use rather than at their highest and best use. Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-1004(11) defines present use value as “the value of land based on its current use as either agricultural, forest, or open space land and assuming that there is no possibility of the land being used for another purpose.”
Rollback Taxes
What are rollback taxes? (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 67-5-1004(12), 1008(d)(1))
Rollback taxes are the amount of taxes saved over a certain period of time that the land qualified as agricultural, forest, or open space. These taxes are not a penalty; they are a recapture of the amount of taxes saved.
How is the amount of rollback taxes calculated? (Tenn. Code Ann. § 1008(d)(1))
They are calculated by the difference between the use value and market value assessments. For agricultural and forest land, rollback taxes are calculated each year for the preceding three years. For open space land, they are calculated each year for the preceding five years.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have recently purchased property that is qualified for the Greenbelt Program, you will receive an application from our office. We verify acreage and mapping before sending applications, so please be patient with the process.