Upon request of the State Tax Assessor, the Director of the Bureau of Forestry within the Department of Conservation may provide assistance in determining whether timberlands for which the credit is claimed have been managed sustainably.__When assistance is requested under this subparagraph, the director or the director's designee may enter and examine the timberlands for the purpose of determining whether the timberlands have been managed sustainably.

In the case of timberlands owned by an entity that is treated as a pass-through entity for income tax purposes, the land must be treated as eligible timberland if ownership and use of the land by the pass-through entity satisfies the requirements of this paragraph.__If the owner of the eligible timberlands is an S corporation, the taxpayer must subtract the owner's pro rata share of the gain.__If the owner of the timberlands is a partnership or limited liability company taxed as a partnership, the taxpayer must subtract the taxpayer's distributive share of the gain, subject to the percentage limitations provided in this paragraph.

This modification may not reduce Maine taxable income to less than zero.__To the extent this modification results in Maine taxable income that is less than zero for the taxable year, the excess negative modification amount may be carried forward and applied as a subtraction modification for up to 10 taxable years.__The entire amount of the excess negative modification must be carried to the earliest of the taxable years to which, by reason of this subsection, the negative modification may be carried and then to each of the other taxable years to the extent the unused negative modification is not used for a prior taxable year.__Earlier carry-forward modifications must be used before newer modifications generated in later years.

Sec. 4. 36 MRSA §5200-A, sub-§2, śL, as amended by PL 2003, c. 20, Pt. EE, §3, is further amended to read: