PRIA Logo™
119-hr-8538119th CongressWALLET

Save America’s Family Forests Act of 2026

Sponsored By: Representative Carter, Earl L. "Buddy" [R-GA-1]

Introduced

Summary

Expands and indexes tax breaks for reforestation and creates a disaster-specific reforestation deduction. It raises the amounts landowners can expense for planting and adds a separate deduction for reforesting timber damaged by presidentially declared natural disasters.

Show full summary
  • Timber owners and private forest landholders get higher immediate expensing limits. The per-property caps rise from $10,000 to $30,000 and from $5,000 to $15,000, and those amounts are indexed for inflation for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026.
  • Disaster-affected timber owners can claim a new special deduction for reforestation tied to qualified natural disasters. The deduction is limited to $500,000 per property and $1,000,000 in the aggregate, with married filing separately limits of $250,000 and $500,000 respectively, and can be elected even on amended returns.
  • Pass-throughs, controlled groups, trusts, and estates face specific allocation and application rules. Aggregate limits apply at the partnership or S corporation level, controlled-group members share limits per Treasury rules, and dispositions within 10 years can trigger recapture as ordinary income, with exceptions for casualty, condemnation, government taking, or death.

Personalized for You

How does this bill affect your finances?

Personalize government policy and PRIA will tell you what this bill means for your household, plus every other piece of legislation we track. PRIA reads each provision against your financial profile to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.

Free to download

Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.

Disaster reforestation tax deduction

If enacted, you would be able to deduct large reforestation costs paid or incurred to replace standing timber damaged by a President‑declared natural disaster. The deduction for each damaged timber property would be capped at $500,000 (or $250,000 if married filing separately), and your total deduction for all qualified timber properties would be capped at $1,000,000 (or $500,000 if married filing separately). You would need to make an election in the form the IRS prescribes, and the aggregate limits would be applied at the partnership or S‑corporation level and allocated among controlled groups by rule. If you sell the property or timber within 10 years, the deduction (up to the amount claimed) would be recaptured as ordinary income, and you could not also claim other Code deductions for the same expenses. These dollar limits would be adjusted for inflation for tax years beginning after December 31, 2026, and the rule would apply to amounts paid or incurred in tax years beginning after that date.

Higher reforestation expensing caps

If enacted, the bill would raise the immediate expensing caps for reforestation spending. The law would replace the $10,000 cap with $30,000 and the $5,000 cap with $15,000 for qualifying reforestation expenditures. Those dollar amounts would be adjusted for inflation for tax years beginning after December 31, 2026, with any non‑$100 increase rounded to the nearest $100. The rule would apply to amounts paid or incurred in tax years beginning after that date.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Carter, Earl L. "Buddy" [R-GA-1]

GA • R

Cosponsors

  • Rep. Sewell, Terri A. [D-AL-7]

    AL • D

    Sponsored 4/28/2026

  • Rep. Bean, Aaron [R-FL-4]

    FL • R

    Sponsored 4/28/2026

  • Rep. Thompson, Mike [D-CA-4]

    CA • D

    Sponsored 4/28/2026

  • Rep. Steube, W. Gregory [R-FL-17]

    FL • R

    Sponsored 4/28/2026

  • Rep. Murphy, Gregory F. [R-NC-3]

    NC • R

    Sponsored 4/28/2026

  • Rep. Moran, Nathaniel [R-TX-1]

    TX • R

    Sponsored 4/28/2026

  • Rep. Babin, Brian [R-TX-36]

    TX • R

    Sponsored 4/29/2026

  • Rep. Rose, John W. [R-TN-6]

    TN • R

    Sponsored 6/22/2026

  • Rep. Thompson, Glenn [R-PA-15]

    PA • R

    Sponsored 8/17/2026

  • Rep. Sessions, Pete [R-TX-17]

    TX • R

    Sponsored 8/31/2026

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

View on Congress.gov
Back to Legislation