Title 7

SECTION 781.4

781.4 Assessment of penalties.

§ 781.4 Assessment of penalties.

(a) Violation of the reporting obligations will consist of:

(1) Failure to submit any report in accordance with § 781.3;

(2) Failure to maintain any submitted report with accurate information; or

(3) Submission of a report which the foreign person knows:

(i) Does not contain, initially or within thirty days from the date of a letter returning for completion such incomplete report, all the information required to be in such report; or

(ii) Contains misleading or false information.

(b) Any foreign person who violates the reporting obligation as described in paragraph (a) of this section shall be subject to the following penalties:

(1) Late-filed reports: One-tenth of one percent of the fair market value, as determined by the Farm Service Agency, of the foreign person's interest in the agricultural land, with respect to which such violation occurred, for each week or portion thereof that such violation continues, but the total penalty imposed shall not exceed 25 percent of the fair market value of the foreign person's interest in such land.

(2) Submission of an incomplete report or a report containing misleading or false information, failure to submit a report or failure to maintain a submitted report with accurate information: 25 percent of the fair market value, as determined by the Farm Service Agency, of the foreign person's interest in the agricultural land with respect to which such violation occurred.

(3) Penalties prescribed above are subject to downward adjustments based on factors including:

(i) Total time the violation existed.

(ii) Method of discovery of the violation.

(iii) Extenuating circumstances concerning the violation.

(iv) Nature of the information misstated or not reported.

(c) The fair market value for the land, with respect to which such violation occurred, shall be such value on the date the penalty is assessed, or if the land is no longer agricultural, on the date it was last used as agricultural land. The price or current estimated value reported by the foreign person, as verified and/or adjusted by the County Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee for the County where the land is located, will be considered to be the fair market value.

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