Save America’s Family Forests Act of 2026
Sponsored By: Representative Carter, Earl L. "Buddy" [R-GA-1]
Introduced
Summary
Expanded tax breaks for reforestation. The bill would raise immediate-expensing thresholds for planting and create a separate, targeted deduction for disaster-related reforestation with rules for limits, elections, and recapture.
Show full summary
- Family forest owners and timberland managers would see the per-property expensing amount rise from $10,000 to $30,000 and the per-property per-year alternative rise from $5,000 to $15,000. These amounts would be indexed for inflation and apply to costs paid or incurred in tax years beginning after December 31, 2026.
- Owners rebuilding after qualified natural disasters would be eligible for a new deduction under a new IRC section 194B that sets per-property and aggregate limits, election mechanics, definitions of qualified expenses, and recapture rules tied to section 1245.
- Taxpayers and advisers must follow new rules for controlled groups, pass-through entities, trusts and estates, coordination with other deductions, and forthcoming Treasury regulations to administer the deduction.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Higher reforestation expensing limits
You would be able to expense more reforestation costs for timber property. The bill raises the per-property base limit from $10,000 to $30,000 and the alternate per-property yearly limit from $5,000 to $15,000. These amounts would apply to costs paid or incurred in tax years starting after December 31, 2026. The dollar limits would be indexed for inflation each year using the section 1(f)(3) cost-of-living method (with a 2025 substitution) and rounded to the nearest $100. This change would apply only to reforestation expenditures that meet the existing section 194 eligibility rules.
New disaster reforestation deduction
If enacted, the bill would create a new tax deduction for disaster-related reforestation costs for qualified timber property. The deduction per property would be limited to $500,000 (or $250,000 if married filing separately) and an aggregate cap of $1,000,000 per taxpayer ($500,000 if married filing separately). You would have to make an election in the time and manner the Treasury prescribes to claim the deduction. ‘‘Disaster-related’’ means uncut standing timber damaged or destroyed by a Presidentially-declared Stafford Act (section 401) disaster within the prior five years. Government reforestation cost-share reimbursements would be excluded unless already included in your income, and amounts deductible under section 194(a) would not qualify. If you dispose of the property or timber within 10 taxable years, some of the deduction can be recaptured (with exceptions for casualty, condemnation/government taking, or death). The bill also includes rules for controlled groups, entity-level application for partnerships and S corporations, trust and estate allocation rules, and the same inflation indexing and effective date rules as other provisions (tax years starting after December 31, 2026).
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Carter, Earl L. "Buddy" [R-GA-1]
GA • R
Cosponsors
Sewell
AL • D
Sponsored 4/28/2026
Bean (FL)
FL • R
Sponsored 4/28/2026
Thompson (CA)
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
Babin
TX • R
Sponsored 4/29/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov