Taxation in Massachusetts
Chapter 61 is a voluntary
Enrollment qualifications
In order the qualify for the Chapter 61 program, a parcel of real property must be at least 10 acres (40,000 m2) contiguous in size and under the same ownership. Prior to approval, the landowner must establish a forest management plan for the affected property and have it approved by a state certified forester. Only the wooded and undeveloped portions of the land may be enrolled in the program.
Penalties
A landowner who has enrolled in the program is forced to pay a conveyance tax if he sells his enrolled land for a use other than forestry within a period of ten years after the last date forestry was practiced on the property or within 10 years after he first acquired the property. The conveyance tax is 10% of the value of the property minus 1% for each year since the property was last been used for forestry or was acquired.
Rollback taxes, the difference between the normal tax rate the preferential tax rate plus 5% annual interest, are charged whenever land is developed or is converted to another use not recognized by Massachusetts as forest, agricultural, or recreational in nature within five years of the last date of enrollment in the Chapter 61 program.