On June 28th, Governor Snyder signed into law Public Acts 260, 261, and 262 of 2016. These acts provide an opportunity for landowners to transfer Commercial Forest (CF) property into the Qualified Forest Program (QFP) without payment of a CF withdrawal penalty. This is accomplished by PA 260 of 2016, which creates the Transitional Qualified Forest Property specific tax act (TQF). The legislation also provides for a graduated return to ad valorem property taxes by allowing a five (5) year incremental return to full tax liability.

 Here are the key provisions of 2016 Public Acts 260-262:

• Landowners must own the CF property they intend to transfer to TQF no later than September 1, 2016.

 The sunset on the legislation is September 1, 2021, meaning that landowners will have until September 1, 2021 to submit a complete application to transfer property from CF to the TQF under waiver of the CF withdrawal penalty.