Taxes and Estate Planning

ARTICLE

Following up with Forest Inheritors: A Survival Analysis of Recently Inherited and Recently Sold Non‑Industrial Forest Land in the State of Washington, USA. Brian Danley, Sergey Rabotyagov, Andrew Cooke. Small Scale Forestry 23:175-189. 2024.

ESTATE PLANNING

Basics of estate planning and the tools available for family forests.  Webinar presented by Dr. Tamara Cushing for American Tree Farm System.

Ties to the Land is a workshop series originally created at Oregon State University to assist woodland owners in addressing communication issues and the emotional and legal aspects of succession planning. A succession plan is a more effective means for land owners to pass on their legacy than a traditional estate plan. Workshops are occasionally held in various locations throughout Washington so watch the WFFA web site and the WSU Forestry Extension website for future workshops.  You can download the workbook, Publication PNW 763, at their website.

FEDERAL TIMBER TAXES

Publications

Tax Tips for Forest Landowners for the 2025 Tax year. Yanshu Li, Tamara L. Cushing, and Gregory E. Frey. USDA Forest Service. 4 p.

Forest Landowners Guide to the Federal Income Tax is a comprehensive manual about forest taxes. Unfortunately it has not been updated since 2013, but the basic principles are still valid.  USDA Agriculture Handbook 731. 152 p.

Web Sites

National Timber Tax Website was developed to be used by timberland owners, as well as a reference for accountants, attorneys, consulting foresters and other professionals who work with timberland owners regarding the tax treatment of timber related activities.  It contains numerous links to publications, webinars and other sources of tax information for forest land owners.

Videos

Presentations by Dr. Tamara Cushing are available for viewing.

• Understanding Basis for Timber and Forest Land
• Taxation of Forestry Income
• Forestry Tax Incentives

WASHINGTON TIMBER TAXES

Forest Excise Tax must be paid on all timber harvested from private land in Washington. The Washington Department of Revenue’s Forest Tax web page provides further information on the Forest Excise Tax.

Ben Craig, forester for the Department of Revenue, gave a presentation on forest taxation to the Lewis County Farm Forestry Association in April 2026.  His slides provide a summary of Washington timber taxes and are available here.

Business and Occupation Tax (B&O) must be paid if the gross receipts from timber harvested exceed $100,000 in a calendar year.   A deduction for the first $100,000 is allowed under the Extracting B&O tax classification, under the “Other” deduction. Write Small Timber Harvester.  Amounts above $100,000 remain subject to B&O tax.