What bees could do to your tax bill.
Thanks for scanning my postcard. This page compares your tax bill with and without an ag valuation from bees. Have your appraisal notice handy, or look your place up on your appraisal district's website. It takes about five minutes, and the numbers you type stay in your browser unless you send them to me.
This calculator compares the yearly property tax on your land with an agricultural valuation from bees and without one. It only works if you provide accurate numbers from your own bill or the local appraisal district. It runs on numbers from the public record, and has tips on where to find them, so nothing has to be a guess.
Before you start: three numbers
You'll need your acres, what the appraisal district says the land is worth, and your total tax rate (%). All three are on your property's page at the appraisal district, free and online. It takes about five minutes.
- Find your appraisal district. Every Texas county has one. Pick your county in the calculator and it shows you the links for yours.
- Look up your property. On the district's website, open Property Search, search by owner name or address, and open your property's page.
- Keep that page open in another tab. Each box below has a "Where to find this" note that tells you which line to copy.
Work it out
The numbers you type stay in your browser. They go nowhere unless you choose to send them to me at the end.
Some boxes above need fixing. These figures are from your last complete entry.
Your land's yearly tax bill
About a year less with the valuation.
Your land already carries the valuation, so the second figure is close to what you pay on these acres now. Bees are one way to keep it when another use ends. If the land stops qualifying because its use changes, the bill goes to the first figure, and the district adds a rollback: the difference for each of the three previous years, roughly in one bill at today's numbers.
With five of the last seven years in ag use already on the land, the history is there. Once bees are the use on that ground and your district approves your application, the second figure is about what you'd pay. Applications are due before May 1 of each tax year, and your district will want to see the bees in place.
Land without recent ag use has to build five years of it before it can carry the valuation. If the bees go in the spring of , the first tax year it could apply is about . Until then, the bill stays at the first figure.
Over the ten years from through , the taxes come to about less, all of it in the last five years, at today's values and rates.
When the savings start depends on the land's history. If it has five of the last seven years in ag use, they can start with the first tax year your district approves. If it doesn't, the clock has to run first, and the first year is about . Your district can tell you which it is.
Bees can carry the valuation on up to 20 acres, so these figures cover 20 of your acres outside the home site. The other acres are taxed the same either way unless they have another ag use. A wildlife plan is one.
One number here is a stand-in. You left the ag value blank, so the calculator used an acre. It's set high, so your real difference is likely a little larger. If the land has an ag valuation now, your property page shows the real figure.
Check the land value. It works out to an acre, which looks like an ag value rather than a market value. Use the Land Non-Homesite Value line, or Agricultural Market Valuation if the land has an ag valuation now.
Check the land value. It works out to an acre. If that number includes the house or other buildings, the answer will be too high. Use the land line only.
Check the tax rate.
What Williamson County has published on hives: Six colonies on five acres is the minimum intensity. Beekeeping has to stand on its own; most livestock on the same ground counts as a competing use. Williamson CAD, Agricultural FAQ.
What Burnet County has published on hives: Six active hives on 5 to 10 acres; 8 to 12 hives on 11 to 20 acres. The district asks for proof of bee purchases, a hive placement map and a sales plan, and inspects each year. Burnet CAD, Degree of Intensity (revised 11/14/2023).
What Bell County has published on hives: Listed as six hives, plus one for each additional 2.5 acres. Bell CAD takes ag and wildlife questions at agwildlife@bellcad.org. I couldn't open the district's own page when I checked, so confirm with the district. Texas Beekeepers Association county list (2022); Bell CAD, Agricultural Appraisal.
What McLennan County has published on hives: Listed as six hives, plus one for each additional 2.5 acres. McLennan CAD publishes its own beekeeping intensity guideline; read the current one before you rely on this. I couldn't open the district's own page when I checked, so confirm with the district. Texas Beekeepers Association county list (2022); McLennan CAD Beekeeping Guideline 2024.
What Travis County has published on hives: Listed as six hives on five acres, plus one for each additional two acres. Call TCAD for the current guideline. I couldn't open the district's own page when I checked, so confirm with the district. Texas Beekeepers Association county list (2022); Travis CAD.
Hives: I haven't collected published beekeeping standard. Ask your district how many hives it expects on acres and what records it wants.
Check my math
Your house, the home site and any buildings are taxed the same either way, so they're left out of both figures.
This opens my request form with your county, acres and estimate filled in. You can change anything before you send it.
Bees can't carry this one
That leaves acres outside the home site. Bees can carry an agricultural valuation on 5 to 20 acres, and no fewer. The pollinator habitat guide is free help for smaller places.
An estimate from the numbers you entered, not tax advice. I'm not a tax advisor, and I don't file for anyone. Your appraisal district sets the standard and decides.
Where each number lives
Districts name things a little differently, but these are the lines to look for on your property page.
| The calculator asks for | Your property page usually calls it | Also printed on |
|---|---|---|
| Total acres | Legal Acres or Acreage, or the land lines added together | Your Notice of Appraised Value |
| Home site acres | The land line marked Homesite or HS | Your Notice of Appraised Value |
| Land market value | Land Non-Homesite Value; with an ag valuation, Agricultural Market Valuation or Ag Market Value | Your Notice of Appraised Value, mailed in spring |
| Ag status now | A Productivity Value or Ag Use Value, or a land code such as AG or 1-d-1 | Your Notice of Appraised Value |
| Ag value | Productivity Value, Prod. Value or Ag Use Value | Your Notice of Appraised Value |
| Total tax rate | Taxing jurisdictions or entities, each with a rate; add them | Your tax statement, mailed in October, and your county's Tax Notices site |
Values are set each spring. Tax rates are adopted in late summer and fall, and statements go out in October. Use the latest year shown.
If you can't find a number, call the district. They answer these questions every day, and theirs is the figure that counts.
Links for every county I work in
Each county's page at the Texas Comptroller links its appraisal district, its tax office and, for many counties, its Tax Notices site. Where I've collected the district's own site, it's linked too.
Show the county links
What the calculator leaves out
- Your house and home site. They're taxed the same with bees or without, so both figures leave them out.
- Homestead limits. If some of these acres have been part of your homestead, the 10 percent yearly cap on homestead appraisal increases may be holding their taxable value below market. In that case your bill without bees is lower than shown. Your property page shows any cap adjustment in the Values section.
- Next year's numbers. Values and rates change every year, and this uses one year's figures for every year.
- Land inside city limits. It has extra conditions to qualify, so ask your district.
- Whether your land qualifies. The hive count, the records and the decision belong to your district. Five to twenty acres and five of the last seven years in ag use come first. The bee "ag exemption" guide has the whole picture, with sources.
Nathan Exley, (512) 298-1526, exleyapiary.com
Request a site visit
Tell me what you have in mind, and we'll work out what fits.
The visit is free. If your place isn't a fit, I'll tell you why and what might work instead, and you'll still get a native plant guide written for your address.