Don't feel bad if you were not familiar with this tax break, there are many landowners that are unaware of this lucrative benefit for planting trees. This law though, has been a part of the tax code since 1980. The credit is a direct deduction from the taxes you owe. You may wonder what qualifies as expenditures when you are tree planting. According to the tax codes, reforestation expenses refer to direct costs paid for the stand establishment.
Work completed to encourage natural regeneration is also eligible.
Let's look at an example of what this might mean to you the next time you plant a few acres to trees. If you mowed the field, sprayed the rows to be planted with herbicide, purchased the trees, planted the trees and then placed tree shelters on one-half of the trees. Amortization deductions are subtracted from your gross income. This means that they can be subtracted even if you do not itemize. This little known tax benefit is easy to use and should be quite an incentive for a landowner to plant trees.