What rollback is
Land with a 1-d-1 open-space valuation is taxed on productivity value — often pennies on the market-value dollar. The state’s side of that bargain: if the land changes to a non-agricultural use, the county recaptures recent savings. That recapture is the rollback tax.
Since HB 1743 (2019), the bill equals the tax difference for the three tax years preceding the change, plus 5% annual interest (before 2019 it was five years and 7% — plenty of older articles still quote that).
The math, concretely
The 50-acre Hill Country example from our pricing page — $600,000 market value, ~$6,000 productivity value, 1.6% combined rate:
| Year | Tax paid (ag) | Tax at market | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year -3 | $96 | $9,600 | $9,504 |
| Year -2 | $96 | $9,600 | $9,504 |
| Year -1 | $96 | $9,600 | $9,504 |
| Recaptured difference | $28,512 | ||
| + 5% interest per year (accruing per statute) | ≈ $2,100–$2,900 | ||
| Rollback bill | ≈ $31,000 | ||
Illustrative; districts compute interest from each year’s original due date. The order of magnitude is the point.
What triggers rollback — and what doesn’t
- Triggers: physically changing the land to non-ag use — developing it, paving it, converting to a commercial site or residential subdivision. Selling to a buyer who changes the use triggers it too (negotiate who pays in the contract).
- Doesn’t, by itself: switching between qualifying ag uses — cattle to wildlife management is a use change within 1-d-1, not out of it. Losing qualification (denied application, failed practices) moves you to market-value taxes going forward, but rollback attaches when the use changes to non-agricultural.
- The gray zone: land that quietly stops being used for anything agricultural. Idle long enough, and a district can treat the use as changed. Wildlife management with documentation is precisely how good-faith owners stay out of that zone.
Why wildlife valuation is the safe harbor
No livestock partner to lose, no lease to lapse, no drought sell-off to explain — your qualifying use is your own three practices, provable with your own records. For land you don’t intend to farm commercially, wildlife management is the most durable way to keep 1-d-1 continuity and keep rollback purely theoretical.
If you’re buying or inheriting
- Buyers: confirm the valuation and any pending changes of use before closing; put rollback liability in the contract; file your own application (and plan, if wildlife) by April 30.
- Heirs: the valuation doesn’t vanish at inheritance, but the use must continue. If nobody wants to run cattle, converting to wildlife promptly is usually the family’s best move.
Keep it hypothetical
The app’s deadline guardrails, practice tracking, and evidence vault exist so that the words “change of use” never appear in your mailbox. See how →
Sources & further reading
- Texas Tax Code §23.55 — the rollback (change-of-use) statute
- HB 1743 (86th Legislature, 2019) — the act that reduced rollback to 3 years + 5% interest
- Comptroller: Agricultural & Timber Appraisal — current manuals and wildlife-use qualification guidelines