OAR 150-321-0020: Timber Subject to the Forest Products Harvest Tax: Measurement Standards

(1) Timber subject to the Forest Products Harvest Tax is the following: (a) All logs which can be measured in board feet and meet the requirements of utility cull or better. (A) Logs must be measured in western Oregon by the current edition of Official Rules for the following Log Scaling and Grading Bureaus: Columbia River, Northern California, Pacific Rim, Southern Oregon, Yamhill, developed by the Northwest Log Rules Advisory Group (NWLRAG). All sections of the publication are recognized including the Appendix. (B) Logs must be measured in eastern Oregon by the Scribner Decimal "C" Eastside Short Log Rule, using the NWLRAG Eastside Log Scaling Handbook, First Edition 2003. (b) Logs chipped in the woods, except chips produced from material not meeting log merchantability standards in subsection (a) above and used as hog fuel. (c) Loads of logs measured in tons and sold by the weight that contain utility grade and better logs. Logs must be reported on the timber tax return by thousand board feet (MBF). Logs must be converted from tons to MBF using conversion factors established by the Department of Revenue. These conversion factors are listed on the tax forms and instructions sent out annually by the department: (A) When less than 10 percent of the load’s log count comes from logs that have an 8-inch or larger scaling diameter, the “Chip Log” conversion factor will be used for converting tons to MBF for tax reporting. (B) When 10 percent or more of the load’s log count comes from logs that have an 8-inch or larger scaling diameter, the “Small Saw Logs” conversion factor will be used for converting tons to MBF for tax reporting. (2) Timber not subject to Forest Products Harvest Tax is secondary products, other than chips, manufactured in the woods and produced from logs normally left in the forest or burned as slash. Examples are shake or shingle bolts, fence posts, firewood, and arrow bolts. (3) When timber is harvested from the eastside, but scaled using westside log scaling rule, the volume must be adjusted to reflect the eastside log scaling rule volume. Taxpayers may use their own conversion factors if they are supported by statistically sound sample data; otherwise, the westside volume must be multiplied by 1.28 to get the equivalent eastside scaled volume.