Senate 898

WEST virginia legislature

2026 regular session

Committee Substitute

for

Senate Bill 898

By Senators Thorne and Rucker

[Reported February 25,2026 from the Committee on Agriculture]

A BILL to amend and reenact §11-1A-10 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to valuation of farm property; providing that buildings and structures situated on farm property and used exclusively for purposes of agriculture shall be valued at their salvage value for purposes of ad valorem property taxation; defining term; and establishing an effective date.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

Article 1A. APPRAISAL OF PROPERTY.

§11-1A-10. Valuation of farm property.

(a) With respect to farm property, the Tax Commissioner shall appraise such property so as to ascertain its fair and reasonable value for farming purposes regardless of what the value of the property would be if used for some other purpose, and the value shall be arrived at by giving consideration to the fair and reasonable income which the property might be expected to earn in the locality wherein situated, if rented. The fair and reasonable value for farming purposes shall be deemed to be the market value of such property for appraisement purposes.

(b) A person is not engaged in farming if he or she is primarily engaged in forestry or growing timber. Additionally, a corporation is not engaged in farming unless its principal activity is the business of farming, and in the event that the controlling stock interest in the corporation is owned by another corporation, the corporation owning the controlling interest must also be primarily engaged in the business of farming.

(c)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary, the value of buildings and structures situated on farm property and which are used exclusively for the purposes of agriculture, for the purpose of ad valorem property taxation under this chapter and under article X of the Constitution of the State of West Virginia, shall be their salvage value. Buildings and structures situated on farm property which are used exclusively for the purposes of agriculture include, but are not limited to, barns, stables, chicken houses, milking parlors, lean-tos, outbuildings, hay barns, silos, and any other building which is used solely in the production of an agricultural product, as that term is defined in §19-2-1(b) of this code, or as storage for agricultural tools or products.

(2) For the purposes of this subsection, “salvage value” means the lower of fair market salvage value or five percent of the original cost of the property.

(3) The provisions of this subsection shall be effective January 1, 2027.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the appraisal of certain buildings and structures on farm property at their salvage value.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.