How to Fill Out the Texas Ag Exemption Certificate (Form 01-924)

Texas Form 01-924 is the agricultural sales and use tax exemption certificate you hand to a retailer to buy qualifying farm and ranch supplies without paying sales tax. Completing it correctly takes six pieces of information: the retailer’s name, your name and contact details as the registrant, your 11-digit Ag/Timber Number, the current cycle’s expiration date (December 31, 2027), a description of the items, and your signature. The exemption covers the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax plus any local tax up to an additional 2 percent, for a maximum savings of 8.25 percent per purchase.¹

Get Your Ag/Timber Number First

You cannot use Form 01-924 without a valid Ag/Timber Number, so if you don’t have one yet, stop and apply. Anyone producing agricultural products or timber for sale, or operating an agricultural aircraft operation, is eligible.² The Comptroller’s online application generates your 11-digit number immediately and produces a printable confirmation letter. A paper application (Form AP-228) is also available, but it takes three to four weeks to process. There is no fee.

Your application asks what crops, livestock, or other agricultural products you produce for sale, along with the name and address of your farm, ranch, or timber operation. Business entities include their Texas Taxpayer Number. The Comptroller will not use your Social Security number as your registration number.²

All Ag/Timber Numbers share one renewal cycle regardless of when they were issued. The current cycle expires December 31, 2027, and numbers must be renewed every four years.³ If your number lapses, you have to pay tax at the register and then apply to the Comptroller for a refund after renewing.

Filling Out the Form, Field by Field

The form is a one-page PDF you can download from the Texas Comptroller’s website or pick up at a local tax office. It’s short, but any missing field, especially the expiration date, gives a retailer grounds to refuse it.

At the top, enter the retailer’s name. This is the store or vendor selling you the items.

Next, fill in the agricultural registrant’s name, mailing address, and phone number. The registrant is whoever holds the Ag/Timber Number, which may be an individual, a partnership, or a corporate entity. Invoices for the purchase have to be in this same name.⁴

Write your 11-digit Ag/Timber Number in the designated field.³ Immediately below, add the expiration date. The form has a pre-printed line reading “Dec. 31, 2___”; for the current cycle, write “027” so it reads December 31, 2027. Retailers are told to reject any certificate missing either the registration number or the expiration date.

In the description of items box, identify what you’re buying. You can list the items for a single transaction or describe a category broadly enough to serve as a blanket certificate. Be specific enough that the retailer can match the description to the invoice.

If someone other than the registrant is making the purchase, print that authorized person’s name in the space provided.

Finally, the purchaser signs and dates the certificate. That signature certifies the items will be used exclusively on a farm or ranch for agricultural production, and it carries legal weight. Misrepresenting the intended use exposes you to tax liability and criminal penalties.

Using a Blanket Certificate for a Regular Vendor

If you buy the same kinds of supplies from the same retailer repeatedly, you don’t need a fresh Form 01-924 each visit. Issue one blanket certificate with a broad description of the items you typically buy (for example, “fertilizers, herbicides, and equipment parts for ranch use”) and let the retailer keep it on file.

After that, the seller stamps each invoice with “Exempt agricultural purposes” and has you sign the invoice at the time of sale.⁴ When your Ag/Timber Number renews and you have a new expiration date, you don’t need to fill out an entirely new certificate. Add the updated date to the existing one on file and initial the change for the retailer’s records.³

Handing the Certificate to the Seller

Give the completed form to the retailer at the time of sale, not later. The seller keeps the original as proof that sales tax was not collected, which protects them in a Comptroller audit. You do not send the form to the state.

Retailers can verify your Ag/Timber Number before accepting the certificate. The Comptroller runs a public search tool that looks up registrations by number, individual name, or business name.⁵ A seller who accepts a properly completed certificate in good faith, meaning it has a registration number and an expiration date, is generally protected even if the buyer later misuses the exemption.⁴ If the seller can’t produce a certificate during an audit, those sales are presumed taxable, and the liability falls on the seller.⁶ That’s why some vendors are strict about checking certificates before ringing up a tax-free sale.

What Form 01-924 Covers, and What It Doesn’t

The purchases that actually require Form 01-924 include fertilizers, fungicides, insecticides, herbicides, defoliants, and desiccants used exclusively on a farm or ranch to produce food, feed, or other agricultural products for sale; tractors, harvesters, and other machinery and equipment (including repair and component parts) used exclusively for commercial production or for building and maintaining farm roads and water supplies; irrigation system components; electricity and natural gas used in agricultural or timber operations; processing and packing equipment used by an original producer at the producer’s own location, as long as at least 50 percent of the products handled there are the producer’s own; non-traditional food animals like rabbits, deer, llamas, and bison raised to sell as food; 4-H and FFA show animals raised by students and teachers; and services performed on any of the exempt property listed above.

The common thread is exclusive use on a farm or ranch for commercial production.⁷ Anything used partly for personal errands or non-agricultural purposes doesn’t qualify. The form itself warns that “any non-agricultural or personal use disqualifies the purchase from exemption.”⁴

Some agricultural items are exempt at the register with no paperwork at all, so don’t fill out a certificate for them: livestock raised for food (cattle, sheep, goats, swine, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, and similar animals); horses, mules, and work animals; feed for farm and ranch animals such as oats, hay, corn, chicken scratch, deer corn, and wild bird seed; seeds and annual plants commonly recognized as food for humans or animals or raised to be sold in the regular course of business; veterinary medications purchased with a prescription, including vaccines and drenches; and water. The retailer should already know not to charge tax on these.⁴

Form 01-924 does not cover motor vehicles or trailers. The form says so in bold. To claim an exemption on a farm machine or trailer, use Form 14-319 (Texas Motor Vehicle Tax Exemption Certificate for Agricultural and Timber Operations) and claim the exemption on Form 130-U when titling or registering the vehicle with your county tax assessor-collector.⁴ A farm machine or trailer qualifies for the motor vehicle exemption only if it is used at least 80 percent of the time for agricultural production. A standard pickup truck never qualifies as a farm machine, regardless of farm plates.⁸

What Happens If You Misuse the Certificate

Signing a false exemption certificate is a criminal offense under Texas Tax Code Section 151.707. Intentionally making a false entry, presenting a certificate you know is fraudulent, or concealing or altering one is charged based on how much tax was avoided, ranging from a Class C misdemeanor for less than $20 to a second-degree felony for $20,000 or more.⁹

Buying something tax-free and then putting it to non-agricultural use also creates a tax obligation. Under Section 151.155, you owe tax on the fair market rental value of the item for the period of non-qualifying use, or you can pay tax on the full original purchase price instead.¹⁰ Beyond the tax itself, the Comptroller can revoke your Ag/Timber Number after written notice and a hearing, cutting off future exempt purchases until you reapply.² Back tax paid more than 30 days late picks up a 10 percent penalty, and interest starts accruing 61 days after the due date.¹

Keep Your Records for Four Years

Both buyers and sellers have to keep records for at least four years. Sellers retain the certificates they accept as proof that tax was not collected. Buyers should keep copies of every certificate they issue along with the related purchase invoices. The Comptroller can authorize earlier destruction in writing, but without that permission the four-year floor applies.⁶ If the Comptroller opens an audit, hold onto everything for the audited period until the audit and any appeal or refund claim are resolved.

1
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Sales and Use Tax
2
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 151.1551 – Registration Number Required for Timber and Certain Agricultural Items
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Agricultural and Timber Exemptions
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Texas Agricultural Sales and Use Tax Exemption Certificate
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Ag/Timber Registration
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Texas Sales and Use Tax Frequently Asked Questions – Section: Keeping Records
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 151.316 – Agricultural Items
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Agricultural and Timber Production – Motor Vehicle Tax Guide
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 151.707 – Resale or Exemption Certificate Criminal Penalty
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Texas.Public Law. Texas Tax Code 151.155 – Exemption Certificate