Annual determination of eligibility for valuation; application; form; certification

Section 6. The eligibility of land for valuation, assessment and taxation pursuant to section 4 shall be determined separately for each tax year. An application for eligibility shall be submitted to the board of assessors in the city or town in which the land is situated by not later than December 1 preceding each tax year for which the valuation, assessment and taxation are being sought, and once submitted, the application shall not be withdrawn. An application shall be made on a form prescribed by the commissioner of revenue and provided to applicants by the board of assessors. The form shall provide for the reporting of information pertinent to this chapter and to Article XCIX of the Amendments to the Constitution of the commonwealth and for certification by the applicant that the applicant will immediately, but not later than December 1 of the following year, notify the board of assessors in writing of any subsequently developing circumstance within the applicant's control or knowledge which may cause a change in use of the land covered by the form. An application submitted pursuant to this section for leased land shall be accompanied by a written statement of the lessee's intent to use the land for the purposes in the application and shall be signed by the lessee. The landowner shall certify under the penalties of perjury, in a manner prescribed by the commissioner, that the information in the landowner's application is true. If the application is allowed pursuant to section 9, the classification of the land as actively devoted to agricultural, horticultural or agricultural and horticultural use shall take effect on January 1 preceding the beginning of the tax year to which the application relates and taxation pursuant to this chapter shall commence with that tax year.