April, 2010
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State Tax Refunds Can Create 45% Tax Bracket (or Higher)
On of my favorite business magazines that I started reading as a teenager was Forbes. This used to be a really great business magazine and it still fairly good, but with all the changes going on with the digital revolution, their web-site seems to be taking a higher priority than their magazine. However, almost every […]
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Farmers – New Credit for Health Care Premiums Paid
Although I am usually on the other side from the IRS, I will admit that their web-site is one of the best sites I have used for accessing tax information. The recent Health Care Reform law enacted a new employer credit for certain employers who pay for their employee’s health care premiums. I would estimate […]
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What’s Your Dividend Tax Rate
For the last couple of years, farmers and other taxpayers have enjoyed a very low tax rate on dividend income. This income used to be taxed at regular income tax rates (as high as 50% when combined with some state and city taxes). However, starting a couple of years ago, the top rate on dividend […]
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Rural Farm Economics Improve
Creighton University produces a monthly rural main street economic report based upon a survey of bankers in an 11 state area which comprises most of the corn belt. This survey gives a good picture of where the local farm economy is headed. In the latest report, the highlights are as follows: The farmland-price […]
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Watch for Those Pesky Excise Taxes
I have taken a couple of days off from writing a post due to tax season ending on April 15. As a CPA, you tend to build up a large adrenalin rush until April 15 and then it takes a big dump and all you want to do is nothing and get a lot […]
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Harvest Time is Done
Just like a farmer coming to the last row of the last field of the fall harvest, today is my last day of what I call harvest time for CPA. We have put in long hours since the first of the year (my last day off was on January 10), but this is my favorite […]
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We Don’t Want a Partnership – Part 2
In my previous post, I discussed a situation that applies to many farmers where there was joint ownership of land and whether a partnership tax return is required to be filed. In that post, I indicated that in many cases, a partnership tax return is required and if one is not filed, then […]
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We Don’t Want a Partnership
One of my readers sent me a question about a farming operation that applies to many farm families. I am going to summarize the question as follows: Scenario: 160 acre cropland is titled as Kevin XXX and Mary XXX, JTWRS (50%) and The Jane M YYYY Trust (50%). Kevin and Jane M are brother and […]
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Watch Your Real Estate Tax Bill
I think that most farmers know that the residential and commercial real estate markets have gone through dramatic changes in the last few years. I know that in our area that residential prices peaked out about three years ago and in many of the cities near me the price is at least 50% below the […]