LATE APPLICATION FOR AGRICULTURAL DESIGNATION

(a) The chief appraiser shall accept and approve or deny an application for an agricultural designation after the deadline for filing it has passed if it is filed before approval of the appraisal records by the appraisal review board. (b) If an application for agricultural designation is approved when the application is filed late, the owner is liable for a penalty of 10 percent of the difference between the amount of tax imposed on the property and the amount that would be imposed without the agricultural designation. (c) The chief appraiser shall make an entry on the appraisal records indicating the person's liability for the penalty and shall deliver written notice of imposition of the penalty, explaining the reason for its imposition, to the person. (d) The tax assessor for a taxing unit to which an agricultural designation allowed after a late application applies shall add the amount of the penalty to the owner's tax bill, and the tax collector for the unit shall collect the penalty at the time and in the manner he collects the tax. The amount of the penalty constitutes a lien against the property against which the penalty is imposed, as if it were a tax, and accrues penalty and interest in the same manner as a delinquent tax.