Clean & Green Program (Refunds)

When a property is approved for the Clean and Green program there will be no exoneration on the taxes of the year the application is filed.  This is based on the Pennsylvania Code137b.42 in the Clean and Green Program Section.  The tax changes will take effect in the next tax year or the tax year two calendar years after the property is officially accepted into the program. The determining factor is when the application is submitted.

If an application is submitted on or before June 1 and later approved, it becomes effective as of the tax year commencing in the calendar year immediately following the application deadline. For example, if a landowner applied for the preferential assessment on or before June 1, 2015, and the application was subsequently approved, the preferential assessment would be effective as of the commencement of the tax year in 2016 (meaning the new assessment value would be used for determining the amount of tax in the 2016-2017 tax year).

If an application is submitted on or after June 2, then the preferential assessment does not take effect until the tax year commencing two years after the submission of the application. For example, a landowner submits their application on June 3, 2015. It is later approved. The preferential assessment will be effective as of the commencement of the tax year in calendar year 2017 (meaning the new assessment value would be used for determining the amount of tax in the 2017-2018 tax year).

Therefore, if the landowner submitted their Clean and Green Application on or before June 1, 2015, their new assessment value would be effective for the 2016-2017 tax year. If they submitted their application after June 1, 2015, their new assessment value would be effective for the 2017-2018 tax year. Under no circumstances, however, will the new assessment value affect the 2015-2016 taxes paid on the property.