If a buyer wants to change the zoning of a previously farmed property to residential, who is liable for rollback taxes?

When a buyer decides to change the zoning of a property from agricultural to residential, they may be subject to rollback taxes. Rollback taxes are typically assessed by the local government and are due when property that has been receiving agricultural tax assessments is converted to a different use, in this case, residential purposes.

In this scenario, the buyer is liable for the rollback taxes because they are the party initiating the change in use. As the new owner, the buyer must assume responsibility for any tax implications arising from that change. These taxes are designed to recover the difference in tax revenues that the local government would have collected had the property been classified as residential from the beginning, rather than benefiting from lower agricultural tax rates.

The seller is not liable for these taxes since the liability shifts to the buyer once the zoning change is requested and enacted. Similarly, the government is merely the authority that assesses these taxes and is not responsible for their payment. Real estate agents also do not bear responsibility for rollback taxes, as their role is to facilitate the transaction rather than to manage tax obligations associated with property changes. Thus, the buyer assumes this liability as part of the property ownership and zoning change process.