reglab/statecodes huggingface dataset:
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 60a - Excise Tax on Registered Motor Vehicles in Lieu of Local Tax › Section 4 - Laws Respecting Registration of Motor Vehicles; Effect of This Chapter

Section 4. The provisions of this chapter, other than those contained in section two A thereof, shall not be construed to alter or amend the provisions of law with respect to the registration of motor vehicles or trailers.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 60a - Excise Tax on Registered Motor Vehicles in Lieu of Local Tax › Section 6 - Where Excise Laid and Collected

Section 6. The excise locally assessable under this chapter shall be laid and collected at the residential address of the owner, if an individual, or at the principal place of business in this commonwealth, if a partnership, voluntary association or corporation, as determined by the owner's registration, except that if a motor vehicle or trailer is customarily kept in some other municipality, the excise shall be laid and collected in such other municipality.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 60a - Excise Tax on Registered Motor Vehicles in Lieu of Local Tax › Section 7 - Uncollectible Tax; Abatement

Section 7. If a collector is satisfied that an excise that has been committed to him or to any of his predecessors in office for collection, is uncollectible by reason of the death, absence, poverty, insolvency, bankruptcy, or other inability of the person assessed to pay, he shall notify the assessors thereof in writing on oath, stating why such excise cannot be collected. The assessors shall act upon such notification within thirty days, and, after due inquiry, may abate such excise or any part thereof, and shall certify such abatement in writing to the collector, and said certificate shall discharge the collector from further obligation to collect the excise so abated.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 60a - Excise Tax on Registered Motor Vehicles in Lieu of Local Tax › Section 8 - Unpaid Tax; Abatement

Section 8. Notwithstanding the failure of the owner of a motor vehicle on which an excise was assessed under this chapter to apply for an abatement within the time set forth in section 2, the board of assessors may abate the whole, or any part of any such excise, or any interest thereon or costs relative thereto, that remains unpaid where, in the assessors' opinion it should be abated. No such abatements shall be granted unless they are in accordance with such rules, regulations and guidelines as the commissioner of revenue may prescribe and no interest shall be due in connection with any such abatement. Whenever an abatement is granted under this section, the assessors shall enter the same in their record of abatements. The assessors shall annually, not later than August 1, report to the commissioner, in the form and manner prescribed by him, the abatements granted during the prior fiscal year.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 60a - Excise Tax on Registered Motor Vehicles in Lieu of Local Tax › Section 9 - Deferral of Excise Due by Massachusetts National Guard Members and Reservists on Active Duty and Dependents

Section 9. In any city or town accepting the provisions of this section and notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary, any excise due under this chapter by a member of the Massachusetts National Guard or reservist or a dependent of a member of the Massachusetts National Guard or reservist shall be deferred while that member is on active service outside the commonwealth and for a period of up to 180 days after completion of that service. No interest or penalties shall be assessed for any period before the expiration of the 180 days.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 60b - Excise on Boats, Ships and Vessels in Lieu of Local Property Tax › Section 1 - Definitions

Section 1. As used in this chapter, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:
''Vessel'', every watercraft, including documented boats and ships, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water, and includes all equipment, including mode of power, and furnishings that are normally required aboard the vessel during accomplishment of the functions for which the vessel is being utilized.
''Habitually moored or docked'', the place where the owner has usual mooring or dockage for the summer season.
''Principally situated'', for a registered ship or vessel where it is registered, and for a non registered ship or vessel, whether documented or not, the city or town in Massachusetts where it is principally located during the calendar year.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 60b - Excise on Boats, Ships and Vessels in Lieu of Local Property Tax › Section 3 - Exemptions

Section 3. The excise imposed by this chapter shall not apply to vessels described in section eight of chapter fifty-nine and in section sixty-seven of chapter sixty-three; to vessels owned by the commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof; to law enforcement vessels; to vessels under construction; to ferries; to boats, fishing gear and nets owned and actually used by the owner in the prosecution of his business if engaged exclusively in commercial fishing, with a total value of ten thousand dollars or less; nor to other vessels with a value of one thousand dollars or less. Said exemptions shall not subject said vessels and their equipment to any other tax under section four of chapter fifty-nine.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 60b - Excise on Boats, Ships and Vessels in Lieu of Local Property Tax › Section 4 - Collector of Taxes; Penalties

Section 4. The board of assessors, upon assessing the excise imposed by this chapter, shall commit the same to the collector of taxes with their warrant for the collection thereof. The collector of taxes shall seasonably notify the owner of the excise assessed and the due date, but failure to receive notice shall not affect the validity of the excise. Said excise shall be due and payable at the expiration of sixty days from the date upon which the notice was issued by the collector pursuant to this chapter.
Failure to pay said excise by the due date shall result in a penalty being imposed which shall be equal to twenty dollars or twenty per cent of the amount of the excise due, whichever is greater. The penalty shall be in addition to the amount of excise due and any interest thereon imposed by law. If said excise remains unpaid after the due date, the harbormaster of a city or town shall refuse to allow the vessel to moor, dock, or otherwise be situated within the waterways of said city or town. All sums received from said penalty shall be credited to the Municipal Waterways Improvement and Maintenance Fund, established under the provisions of clause (72) of section five of chapter forty.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 60b - Excise on Boats, Ships and Vessels in Lieu of Local Property Tax › Section 5 - Collection Provisions

Section 5. The provisions of law relative to the collection, payment, abatement, verification and administration of the motor vehicle excise imposed under chapter sixty A shall so far as pertinent apply to the excise imposed under this chapter.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 60b - Excise on Boats, Ships and Vessels in Lieu of Local Property Tax › Section 6 - Ship and Vessel Information

Section 6. The commissioner of corporations and taxation shall annually transmit to the director of marine and recreational vehicles a list of all ships or vessels documented as of July first under the laws of the United States whose owners reside in Massachusetts. The boat list shall include for each boat the name and residence of the registered owner, the documentation number, type, length, and model year of the boat and type and horsepower of the engine or motor used to propel said boat and the city or town in which it is habitually moored or docked.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61 - Classification and Taxation of Forest Lands and Forest Products › Section 1 - Definitions

Section 1. For purposes of this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, the following words shall have the following meanings:—
''Cut'', sever or taken from the soil.
''Forest land'', land devoted to the growth of forest products. Upon application, the state forester may allow accessory land devoted to other non-timber uses to be included in certification.
''Forest products'', wood, timber, Christmas trees, other tree forest growth and any other product produced by forest vegetation.
''Certification'', approval of a forest management plan by the state forester.
''Contiguous land'', land separated from other land under the same ownership by a public or private way, waterway or an easement for water supply.
''Forest management plan'' or ''management plan'', a completed copy of a form provided by the state forester executed by the owner and the state forester that provides for a ten year program of forest management, including intermediate and regeneration cuttings.
''Cutting plan'', a completed copy of a form approved by the state forester which describes the species, dimensions, and quantity of a proposed forest crop to be harvested and which is certified by the state forester as being in accordance with the provisions of section forty to forty-six, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and thirty-two.
''Not used for purposes incompatible with forest production'', uses formally proposed or permitted that do not interfere with or reduce the quantity and quality of a continuous forest crop.
''Owner'', person, persons, or another legal entity holding title to a parcel of forest land.
''Parcel'', land held by the same owner under a deed of title which has no encumbrance incompatible with this chapter.
''Region'', one of the five geographic subdivisions of the commonwealth utilized for administrative purposes by the department of environmental management.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61 - Classification and Taxation of Forest Lands and Forest Products › Section 4 - Valuation of Buildings and Dwellings Located on Forest Production Land

Section 4. All buildings located on land which is valued, assessed and taxed on the basis of its forest production use in accordance with this chapter and all land occupied by a dwelling or regularly used for family living shall be valued, assessed and taxed by the same standards, methods and procedures as other taxable property.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61 - Classification and Taxation of Forest Lands and Forest Products › Section 5 - Special and Betterment Assessments

Section 5. Land qualifying for valuation, assessment and taxation under this chapter shall be subject to special assessments or betterment assessments to the pro rata extent that the service or facility financed by the assessment is used for improving the forest production use capability of the land or for the personal benefit of the owner of the land. These assessments shall, upon application, be suspended during the time the land is in forest production use and shall become due and payable as of the date when the use of the land is changed. Payment of the assessment and interest on it shall be made in accordance with section 13 of chapter 80, but interest shall be computed from the date of the change in use. In the event only a portion of a tract of land which benefits from a suspension of payment is changed from this use, the assessment shall become due and payable as of the date when the use was changed only to the extent of and in the proportion that the frontage of that portion bears to the street frontage of the entire tract of land which originally benefited from a suspension of payment. Upon receipt of full payment of a portion of a suspended assessment, the tax collector shall dissolve the lien for the assessment insofar as it affects the portion of the land changed from forest production use. The lien for the portion of the original assessment which remains unpaid shall continue and remain in full force and effect until dissolved in accordance with law. A request for a release shall be made in writing to the tax collector and shall be accompanied by a plan and any other information that is required in the case of a request for a division of an assessment under section 4.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 1 - Land in Agricultural Use Defined

Section 1. Land shall be deemed to be in agricultural use when primarily and directly used in raising animals, including, but not limited to, dairy cattle, beef cattle, poultry, sheep, swine, horses, ponies, mules, goats, bees and fur-bearing animals, for the purpose of selling such animals or a product derived from such animals in the regular course of business; or when primarily and directly used in a related manner which is incidental thereto and represents a customary and necessary use in raising such animals and preparing them or the products derived therefrom for market.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 2 - Land in Horticultural Use Defined

Section 2. Land shall be considered to be in horticultural use when primarily and directly used in raising fruits, vegetables, berries, nuts and other foods for human consumption, feed for animals, tobacco, flower, sod, trees, nursery or greenhouse products, and ornamental plants and shrubs for the purpose of selling these products in the regular course of business; or when primarily and directly used in raising forest products under a certified forest management plan, approved by and subject to procedures established by the state forester, designed to improve the quantity and quality of a continuous crop for the purpose of selling these products in the regular course of business; or when primarily and directly used in a related manner which is incidental to those uses and represents a customary and necessary use in raising these products and preparing them for market.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 2a - Land Used to Site Renewable Energy Generating Source

Section 2A. (a) Land used primarily and directly for agricultural purposes pursuant to section 1 or land used primarily and directly for in horticultural use pursuant to section 2 may, in addition to being used primarily and directly for agriculture or horticulture, be used to site a renewable energy generating source, as defined in subsection (b) of section 11F of chapter 25A. A renewable energy generating source on land primarily and directly used for agricultural purposes pursuant to section 1 or land primarily and directly used for horticultural purposes pursuant to section 2 shall: (i) produce energy for the exclusive use of the of the land and farm upon which it is located, which shall include contiguous or non-contiguous land owned or leased by the owner or in which the owner otherwise holds an interest; and (ii) not produce more than 125 per cent of the annual energy needs of the land and farm upon which it is located, which shall include contiguous or non-contiguous land owned or leased by the owner or in which the owner otherwise holds an interest.
(b) In addition to the use provided for in subsection (a), land used primarily and directly for agricultural purposes pursuant to section 1 or land used primarily and directly for horticultural use pursuant to section 2 may, in addition to being used primarily and directly for agriculture or horticulture, be used to site a renewable energy generating source as defined in subsection (b) of section 11F of chapter 25A that qualifies in accordance with a solar incentive program for agriculture or horticulture sectors developed by the department of energy resources, if such renewable energy generating source does not impede the continued use of the land for agricultural or horticultural purposes pursuant to this chapter.
(c) Land used primarily and directly for agricultural purposes pursuant to section 1 or land used primarily and directly for horticultural purposes pursuant to section 2 shall be deemed to be in agricultural or horticultural use pursuant to this chapter if used to simultaneously site a renewable energy generating source pursuant to subsection (a) or subsection (b).
(d) Renewable energy generating sources located on land used primarily and directly for agricultural purposes pursuant to section 1 or land used primarily and directly for horticultural purposes pursuant to section 2 shall be subject to the provisions afforded to land used for agriculture under section 3 of chapter 40A.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 3 - Land of Five-Acre Minimum Area Actively Devoted to Agricultural or Horticultural Uses Defined; Gross Sales and Program Payment Standard

Section 3. Land not less than five acres in area shall be deemed to be actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural uses when the gross sales of agricultural, horticultural or agricultural and horticultural products resulting from such uses together with the amount, if any, payable under a soil conservation or pollution abatement program of the federal government or the commonwealth total not less than five hundred dollars per year or when the use of such land is clearly proven to be for the purpose of achieving an annual total of not less than five hundred dollars from such gross sales and program payments within the normal product development period as determined by the farmland valuation advisory commission established pursuant to section eleven of this chapter. In cases where the land is more than five acres in area, the gross sales and program payment standard above set forth shall be increased at the rate of five dollars per acre except in the case of woodland or wetland for which such increase shall be at the rate of fifty cents per acre.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 4 - Valuation of Land in Agricultural, Etc. Use; Contiguous Land; Tax Rate

Section 4. For general property tax purposes, the value of land, not less than five acres in area, which is actively devoted to agricultural, horticultural or agricultural and horticultural uses during the tax year in issue and has been so devoted for at least the two immediately preceding tax years, shall, upon application of the owner of such land and approval thereof, be that value which such land has for agricultural or horticultural purposes. For the said tax purposes, land so devoted shall be deemed to include such contiguous land under the same ownership as is not committed to residential, industrial or commercial use and which is covered by application submitted pursuant to section six. Land shall be deemed contiguous if it is separated from other land under the same ownership only by a public or private way or waterway.
Land under the same ownership shall be deemed contiguous if it is connected to other land under the same ownership by an easement for water supply. All such land which is contiguous or is deemed contiguous for purposes of this chapter shall not exceed in acreage one hundred per cent of the acreage which is actively devoted to agricultural, horticultural or agricultural and horticultural uses.
The rate of tax applicable to such agricultural or horticultural land shall be the rate determined to be applicable to class three, commercial property under chapter fifty-nine.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 4a - Tax Rate for Land Actively Devoted to Agricultural or Horticultural Use

Section 4A. In a city or town that accepts this section, the rate of tax applicable to land actively devoted to agricultural, horticultural or agricultural and horticultural uses shall be the rate determined to be applicable to class two, open space.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 5 - Contiguous Land Under One Ownership Within More Than One City or Town

Section 5. Where contiguous land in agricultural, horticultural or agricultural and horticultural uses under one ownership is located in more than one city or town, compliance with the five-acre minimum area requirements of section four shall be determined on the basis of the entire area of such land and not on the basis of the land area which falls within the bounds of any particular city or town.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 6 - Annual Determination of Eligibility for Valuation; Application; Form; Certification

Section 6. The eligibility of land for valuation, assessment and taxation pursuant to section 4 shall be determined separately for each tax year. An application for eligibility shall be submitted to the board of assessors in the city or town in which the land is situated by not later than December 1 preceding each tax year for which the valuation, assessment and taxation are being sought, and once submitted, the application shall not be withdrawn. An application shall be made on a form prescribed by the commissioner of revenue and provided to applicants by the board of assessors. The form shall provide for the reporting of information pertinent to this chapter and to Article XCIX of the Amendments to the Constitution of the commonwealth and for certification by the applicant that the applicant will immediately, but not later than December 1 of the following year, notify the board of assessors in writing of any subsequently developing circumstance within the applicant's control or knowledge which may cause a change in use of the land covered by the form. An application submitted pursuant to this section for leased land shall be accompanied by a written statement of the lessee's intent to use the land for the purposes in the application and shall be signed by the lessee. The landowner shall certify under the penalties of perjury, in a manner prescribed by the commissioner, that the information in the landowner's application is true. If the application is allowed pursuant to section 9, the classification of the land as actively devoted to agricultural, horticultural or agricultural and horticultural use shall take effect on January 1 preceding the beginning of the tax year to which the application relates and taxation pursuant to this chapter shall commence with that tax year.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 7 - Additional Assessment; Change in Use in Pre-Tax Year Between October 1 and June 30

Section 7. If a change in use of land actively devoted to agricultural, horticultural or agricultural and horticultural use occurs between December 1 and June 30 of the year preceding the tax year, the board of assessors shall disallow or nullify the application filed under authority of section six, and, after examination and inquiry, shall determine the full and fair value of said land under the valuation standard applicable to other land and shall assess the same according to such value. If, notwithstanding such change of use, the land is valued, assessed and taxed under the provisions of this chapter in the ensuing year, upon notice thereof said board shall enter an assessment and the amount of the increased tax resulting from such assessment, as an added assessment and tax against such land, in the ''Omitted list'' for the particular year involved in the manner prescribed in section seventy-five of chapter fifty-nine. The amount of the added assessment shall be equal to the difference, if any, between the assessment imposed under this chapter and the assessment which would have been imposed had the land been valued and assessed as other land. The enforcement and collection of additional taxes resulting from any additional assessment so imposed shall be as provided by said chapter fifty-nine. The additional assessment imposed under this section shall not affect the conveyance or roll-back taxes, if any, applicable under sections twelve and thirteen.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 8 - Timely Filing of Application in Towns or Cities With Programs of Revaluation; Abatement

Section 8. Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the contrary, in any tax year for which a city or town has undertaken and completed a program of revaluation of all property in that city or town and the commissioner of revenue has certified that the revalued property is assessed by the board of assessors at full and fair cash valuation, applications by landowners for the valuation, assessment and taxation of their lands on the basis of being actively devoted to agricultural, horticultural or agricultural and horticultural use that are filed with the board of assessors by not later than the last day for filing an application for abatement of the tax assessed on the new valuation, shall be deemed to have been timely made for the tax year of the revaluation program. If the application is approved and the lands qualify for valuation, assessment and taxation as lands maintained for recreational use in that tax year, the portion of any tax assessed for that year which is in excess of the tax that would have been assessed on the lands, if the application had been timely made and approved, shall be abated.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 10 - Factors to Be Considered in Valuing Land

Section 10. The board of assessors of a city or town, in valuing land with respect to which timely application has been made and approved as provided in this chapter, shall consider only those indicia of value which such land has for agricultural, horticultural or agricultural and horticultural uses. Said board, in establishing the use value of such land, shall use the list of ranges published pursuant to section eleven and its personal knowledge, judgment and experience as to such agricultural land values but these factors shall be limited to data specific to the crop or product being grown or produced.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 15 - Taxation of Buildings and Land Occupied by Dwelling

Section 15. All buildings located on land which is valued, assessed and taxed on the basis of its agricultural or horticultural uses in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and all land occupied by a dwelling or regularly used for family living shall be valued, assessed and taxed by the same standards, methods and procedures as other taxable property.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 16 - Continuance of Land Valuation, Assessment and Taxation Under This Chapter Dependent Upon Qualifying Use

Section 16. Continuance of land valuation, assessment and taxation under the provisions of this chapter shall depend upon continuance of such land in agricultural or horticultural uses and compliance with other requirements of this chapter and not upon continuance in the same owner of title to such land. Liability to roll-back taxes, determined pursuant to section thirteen, shall attach when such land no longer qualifies as actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural use and shall be the obligation of the then owner of the land. For purposes relating to roll-back taxes such qualification shall depend on the actual use of such land for the previous 5 years, and not on the filing of application under section six for any year.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 17 - Separation of Land to Other Use; Liability for Conveyance or Roll-Back Taxes; Continuing Qualification of Remainder

Section 17. If, by conveyance or other action of the owner thereof, a portion of land which is valued, assessed and taxed under the provisions of this chapter is separated for a use other than agricultural or horticultural, the land so separated shall be subject to liability for conveyance or roll-back taxes applicable thereto, but such separation shall not impair the right of the remainder of such land to continuance of valuation, assessment and taxation thereunder; provided, that such remaining land continues to qualify under the usage, minimum acreage and other provisions thereof.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 18 - Special or Betterment Assessments; Payment; Interest

Section 18. Land qualifying for valuation, assessment and taxation under this chapter shall be subject to special assessments or betterment assessments to such pro rata extent as the service or facility financed by such assessment is used for improving the agricultural or horticultural use capability of said land or for the personal benefit of the owner thereof. Any such assessment shall, however, upon application, be suspended during the time the land is in agricultural or horticultural use and shall become due and payable as of the date when the use of such land is changed. In the event only a portion of a tract of land which benefits from a suspension of payment is changed from such use, the assessment shall become due and payable as of the date when the use was changed only to the extent of and in the proportion that the frontage of such portion bears to the street frontage of the entire tract of land which originally benefited from a suspension of payment. Upon full payment of a portion of a suspended assessment, the tax collector may dissolve the lien for the assessment insofar as it affects the portion of the land changed from agricultural or horticultural use. The lien for the portion of the original assessment which remains unpaid shall continue and remain in full force and effect until dissolved in accordance with law. A request for such release shall be made in writing to the tax collector, and shall be accompanied by a plan and such other information as is required in the case of a request for a division of an assessment pursuant to section fifteen.
Payment of the assessment and interest on it shall be made in accordance with section 13 of chapter 80, but any interest shall be computed from the date of the change in use.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 19 - Roll-Back Taxes; Procedures for Assessment; Appeal to Appellate Tax Board

Section 19. The assessment, collection, apportionment and payment over of the roll-back taxes imposed by section thirteen shall be governed by the procedures provided for the assessment and taxation of omitted property under section seventy-five of chapter fifty-nine. Such procedures shall apply to each tax year for which roll-back taxes may be imposed notwithstanding the limitation set forth in said chapter fifty-nine with respect to the periods for which omitted property assessments may be imposed. Any person aggrieved by any determination or assessment by the board of assessors under this chapter may within 30 days of the date of notice thereof apply in writing to the assessors for modification or abatement thereof. Any person aggrieved by the refusal of the assessors to modify such a determination or make such an abatement or by their failure to act upon such an application may appeal to the appellate tax board within thirty days after the date of notice of their decision or within three months of the date of the application, whichever date is later. It shall be a condition of such appeal with respect to the annual general property tax that the asserted tax be paid, but no payment shall be required as a condition of such appeal with respect to any asserted conveyance tax or roll-back tax. If any payment of any tax imposed by this chapter should be made and as the result of any such modification or abatement by the board of assessors or decision by the appellate tax board it shall appear that any such tax has been overpaid, such excess payment shall be reimbursed by the town treasurer with interest at the rate of six per cent per annum from time of payment. Collection of any conveyance or roll back taxes, by sale or taking or otherwise, may be stayed by the appellate tax board while any such appeal is pending. Any partial payment of the asserted tax that may be required by the appellate tax board in connection with such stay shall not exceed one half of the asserted tax.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 19a - Sale of Land; Certification of Taxes Paid or Payable

Section 19A. In connection with any proposed or completed sale or other transfer of any land which has been valued, assessed and taxed under the provisions of this chapter, the owner of record of the land may apply to the board of assessors for a certificate of the amount of conveyance tax and roll-back tax, if any, payable by reason of such sale or other transfer, or that no such tax will or has so become payable and stating the amount of any conveyance or roll-back taxes that have theretofore become payable with respect to such land; and such a certificate shall be provided to the applicant within twenty days after application therefor. Such certificate may be recorded with the registry of deeds; and upon recording of such a certificate that no such tax will or has so become payable, or a certificate by the collector of taxes that the amount of tax stated in such certificate of the board of assessors has been paid, all liens on such land for taxes under this chapter shall terminate, except that any liens for any roll-back taxes assessed by reason of such land ceasing to qualify for valuation, assessment and taxation under this chapter after the date of such sale or other transfer, shall continue. In connection with the issuance of such a certificate, the board of assessors may rely upon their own records, affidavits and such other information as they may deem appropriate. The board of assessors shall charge six dollars for each certificate so issued, and the money so received shall be paid into the town treasury.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 20 - Valuation and Assessment for Purposes Other Than Provisions of This Chapter; Equalization

Section 20. For any purpose, other than the provisions of this chapter, for which the assessed value of land is relevant, including exemptions under the provisions of chapter fifty-nine, land qualifying for taxation under this chapter shall be valued and deemed to have been assessed by the same standards, methods and procedures as other taxable property.
In determining the equalization required by section nine of chapter fifty-eight, the commissioner of revenue shall determine the value of such land on the basis of its agricultural and horticultural use.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 21 - Factual Details on Tax List

Section 21. The factual details to be shown on the tax list of a board of assessors with respect to land which is valued, assessed and taxed under this chapter shall be the same as those set forth by said board with respect to other taxable property in the same city or town.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 23 - Use of Valuation, Etc. Procedures to Evade Taxes; Penalties

Section 23. Any person using the valuation, assessment and taxation procedures set forth in this chapter for the purposes of evading payment of full and proper taxes shall be subject to a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars or imprisonment for one year or both and to payment to the city or town in which the land is located of an amount equal to three times the amount of taxes so evaded.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61a - Assessment and Taxation of Agricultural and Horticultural Land › Section 24 - Severability

Section 24. If any clause, sentence, subdivision, paragraph, section or part of this act be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, subdivision, paragraph, section or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which said judgment shall have been rendered.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61b - Classification and Taxation of Recreational Land › Section 1 - Recreational Land and Uses

Section 1. Land not less than five acres in area shall be deemed to be recreational land if it is retained in substantially a natural, wild, or open condition or in a landscaped or pasture condition or in a managed forest condition under a certified forest management plan approved by and subject to procedures established by the state forester in such a manner as to allow to a significant extent the preservation of wildlife and other natural resources, including but not limited to, ground or surface water resources, clean air, vegetation, rare or endangered species, geologic features, high quality soils, and scenic resources. Land not less than five acres in area shall also be deemed to be recreational land which is devoted primarily to recreational use and which does not materially interfere with the environmental benefits which are derived from said land, and is available to the general public or to members of a non-profit organization including a corporation organized under chapter one hundred and eighty.
For the purpose of this chapter, the term recreational use shall be limited to the following: hiking, camping, nature study and observation, boating, golfing, non-commercial youth soccer, horseback riding, hunting, fishing, skiing, swimming, picnicking, private non-commercial flying, including hang gliding, archery, target shooting and commercial horseback riding and equine boarding.
Such recreational use shall not include horse racing, dog racing, or any sport normally undertaken in a stadium, gymnasium or similar structure.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61b - Classification and Taxation of Recreational Land › Section 2 - Value of Recreational Land; Rate of Tax

Section 2. The value of land classified under the provisions of this chapter shall be determined under section thirty-eight of chapter fifty-nine solely on the basis of its use. The board of assessors shall assess such land at valuations based upon the guidelines established under the provisions of chapter fifty-eight, but in no event shall such valuation exceed twenty-five per cent of its fair cash value as determined pursuant to chapter fifty-nine.
The rate of tax applicable to such recreational land shall be the rate determined to be applicable to class three, commercial property under chapter fifty-nine.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61b - Classification and Taxation of Recreational Land › Section 3 - Eligibility for Classification as Recreational

Section 3. The eligibility of land for valuation, assessment and taxation pursuant to this chapter shall be determined separately for each tax year. An application for eligibility shall be submitted to the board of assessors in the city or town in which the land is situated by not later than December 1 of the preceding tax year for which the valuation, assessment and taxation is being sought. The application shall be made on a form prescribed by the commissioner of revenue and provided to applicants by the board of assessors. The form shall provide for the reporting of information pertinent to this chapter and for certification by the applicant that the applicant will immediately, but not later than the December 1 of the following year, notify the board of assessors in writing of any subsequent circumstance within the applicant's control or knowledge which may cause a change in use of the land covered by the form. An application submitted pursuant to this section for leased land shall be accompanied by a written statement of the lessee's intent to use the land for the purposes in the application and shall be signed by the lessee. The landowner shall certify under the penalties of perjury, in a manner prescribed by the commissioner, that the information in the landowner's application is true. If the application is allowed pursuant to section 6, the classification of the land as recreational land shall take effect on January 1 preceding the beginning of the tax year to which the application relates and taxation pursuant to this chapter shall commence with that tax year.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61b - Classification and Taxation of Recreational Land › Section 4 - Changes in Use; Valuation; Additional Assessments

Section 4. If a change in use of land maintained as recreational land as defined in section one occurs between December 1 and June 30 of the year preceding the tax year, the board of assessors shall disallow or nullify the application filed under authority of section three, and, after examination and inquiry, shall determine the full and fair value of said land under the valuation standard applicable to other land and shall assess the same according to such value. If, notwithstanding such change of use, the land is valued, assessed and taxed under the provisions of this chapter in the ensuing year, upon notice thereof said board shall enter an assessment and the amount of the increased tax resulting from such assessment, as an added assessment and tax against such land, for the particular year involved in the manner prescribed in section seventy-five of chapter fifty-nine. The amount of the added assessment shall be equal to the difference, if any, between the assessment imposed under this chapter and the assessment which would have been imposed had the land been valued and assessed as other land. The enforcement and collection of additional taxes resulting from any additional assessment so imposed shall be as provided by said chapters fifty-nine and sixty.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61b - Classification and Taxation of Recreational Land › Section 5 - Revaluation Programs; Time for Application for Recreational Classification

Section 5. Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the contrary, in any tax year for which a city or town has undertaken and completed a program of revaluation of all property in that city or town and the commissioner of revenue has certified that revalued property is assessed by the board of assessors at full and fair cash valuation, applications by landowners for the valuation, assessment and taxation of their lands on the basis of being maintained in recreational use, if filed with the board of assessors by not later than the last day for filing an application for abatement of the tax assessed on the new valuation, shall be deemed to have been timely made for the tax year of the revaluation program. If the application is approved and the lands qualify for valuation, assessment and taxation as lands actively devoted to agricultural, horticultural or agricultural and horticultural use in that tax year, the portion of a tax assessed for that year which is in excess of the tax which would have been assessed on the lands if the application had been timely made and approved, shall be abated.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61b - Classification and Taxation of Recreational Land › Section 10 - Buildings on Recreational Land; Land Occupied by Dwellings or Used for Family Living; Taxation

Section 10. All building located on land which is valued, assessed and taxed on the basis of its recreational use in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and all land occupied by a dwelling or regularly used for family living shall be valued, assessed and taxed by the same standards, methods and procedures as other taxable property.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 61b - Classification and Taxation of Recreational Land › Section 11 - Continuance of Classification

Section 11. Continuance of land valuation, assessment and taxation under the provisions of this chapter shall depend upon continuance of such land in recreational use and compliance with other requirements of this chapter and not upon continuance in the same owner of title to such land. Liability to roll-back taxes, determined pursuant to section eight shall attach when such land no longer qualifies as recreational land actively and shall be the obligation of the then owner of the land. For purposes relating to roll-back taxes such qualification shall depend on the actual use of such land for the previous 5 years, and not on the filing of application under section three for any year.