Certification of Assessment Year 2013 Farmland Values

The Illinois Department of Revenue certifies farmland EAVs based on recommendations from and calculations made by the Farmland Assessment Technical advisory Board (FATB). Annual changes in EAVs for each soil productivity index are limited by statue to a 10 percent increase or decrease. The calculated agricultural economic use values and corresponding EAVs are higher than the 10 percent limitation. Therefore, all values for 2013 are increased 10 percent.

•Cropland must be assessed at the full amount of the certified EAV that corresponds to its debased P1, but no lower than 1/3 of the value for the lowest P1 certified (i.e., for assessment yea 2013, $4.62/acre); and

*Permanent pasture must be valued at one-third of its debased P1 EAV as cropland, but no lower than 1/3 of the value for the lowest P1 certified (i.e., for assessment year 2013, $,62/acre) and

•Other farmland must be valued at one-sixth of its P1 EAV as cropland, but no lower than 1.3 of the value for the lowest P1 certified (i.e., for assessment year 2013, $2.31 acre).

The farmland use-value formula uses five-year running averages that lag two years behind the assessment year, the crop prices, non-land production costs, and interest rates for the 2013 assessment year are from 2007-11. Since each year's data is 1/5 of the total, any particular upward or downward trend in prices, production costs, or the interest rate will not be noticeable for approximately three years of that continued trend.

Calculations are aggregated state-wide. As such, there  may be regional differences in income, non-land production costs, and land return to owes and operators. One easy check to determine if the certified values are appropriate is consider the average cash rent per acre(what a farmer will pay to rent farmland) to be the agricultural use value and capitalize that rent using the interest rate for that year's certified values.

The department is required to calculate each county's average EAV per acre of cropland and average EAV per acre of all farmland.  County aeries are not used in the assessment process. Taxing bodies should not use the averages as a basis for determining budget requests.

Please see Publication 122 Instructions for Farmland Assessments, for additional information about the proper assessment of farmland. This publication is available on our web site at tax.illinois.gov.