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Urban Farm Tax Abatement Program

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The District offers up to a 90% (ninety percent) property tax abatement for landowners whose private property is actively used as an urban farm, pursuant to D.C. Official Code §47-868 “Reduced Tax Liability for Certain Urban Farms”.

“Urban Farm” means any property in the District of Columbia that is used for the growing, cultivating, processing, and distributing of produce for profit, not for profit, or for educational purposes. DC ST § 48-401.

Urban Farms that are a minimum of 2,500 square feet, and meet all program requirements, are eligible for a maximum annual abatement of $20,000 for each property. 


How to Apply:

1. Read the Urban Farm Tax Abatement (UFTA) Instructions THOROUGHLY
2. Submit completed application materials to [email protected]
3. When your application is received, it will be entered into the DOEE Urban Farming Tax Abatement (UFTA) program records for assessment.
4. Within 30 days of receiving your application, you will be notified a) if your application is not accepted, or b) to schedule a site visit.
5. The objective of the site visit is to verify the UFTA application information given on the UFTA application.
6. If the farm is approved after the site visit, your farm application will be certified and sent to the Office of Tax revenue for processing. Site visits will be scheduled in advance and will likely be scheduled to align with the tax years.

District property taxes are assessed twice yearly, and farms must be approved for UFTA on an annual basis. OUA submits UFTA site information to the DC Office of Tax and Revenue (OTA) twice a year for tax abatement calculations.

Farms operating all year and that are applying at the beginning of the fiscal year may select both tax periods on their application, so as not to have to resubmit the same documentation twice in each year.

Farms applying in subsequent years after the initial approval may submit the Attestation Form below, given that their properties are already on record with the District.

Applications must be submitted by the following dates with requisite site visits to be performed within 30 (thirty) days of application submission.

Tax Billing Year                 Period                                Due Date
  1st Half of tax year            October 1 - March 31           November 1 (site visits scheduled before Dec 1st)
  2nd Half of tax year           April 1 - September 30      May 1 (site visits scheduled before June 1st)
 

Program Materials:

Translations:
 

Program Contact:

Office of Urban Agriculture, Program Analyst Rosita Musgrove | [email protected] | (202) 731-0322

Contact TTY: 
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