October, 2010
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How to Transfer Equipment to Multiple Parties
One of our readers had the following question: “I am slowing down farming. understand can gift 13000 a year in machinery value each to my son, his wife and his son. What records and paper work do I need for this? Do I need equipment appraised? Does this allow me to take this equipment off […]
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Can You Not Report an Expense on Your Tax Return?
We got a question from a reader today asking if you they are required to report a deduction on their income tax return. I would normally post a copy of the question here, but the details associated with this question makes that impractical. In brief, the farmer originally reported $2,000 of interest expense as interest […]
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Feed Your Harvest Crew and Deduct the Meals
We got this question from one of our readers and it would apply to almost any farmer who hires a harvest or planting crew: “Hi Paul, I was wondering how taxes work on food bought for workers. On our family farm we have a couple part time hired hands who work 200-300 hours a year […]
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Can I Defer Taxes on Equipment Sales?
We got the following question from one of our readers: “I’m downsizing and want to sell some of my depreciated equipment. If I sell it out right I will pay full tax the first year on sale price. Can I lease my Equipment to someone for five to ten years to have the income spread […]
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Farm Exports May Hit Record for 2010/11
I just read an article in the most recent issue of BloombergBusinessWeek magazine that had some interesting facts and comments. First, for the first 8 months of 2010, farm exports are up by 14% to about $ 70 billion and this is before the recent increase in prices. Second, it is estimated that China will […]
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When is a Deposit Income – Part 2
In response to our post on when is a deposit income, we had a reader write in the following: “In regard to today’s blog: I have a tenant who , over the years, mails his rent that is due Jan 1 in the previous Dec. Obviously he is deducting the rent as a “prepay”. I […]
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Investors Worry About Accuracy of USDA Reports
In Friday’s Wall Street Journal, there is a front page article in the Money and Investing Section regarding the worry of various investors about how accurate the USDA has been with the latest US corn crop. As most farmers know there has been whipsaws in the reports issued this year. In June, the USDA reported that stockpiles […]
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Volatility – Is it Your Friend of Enemy?!
Another nugget of information that I got out of the speech by Dr. Boehlje of Purdue University on Wednesday is that accordingto their studies at the school, the volatility associated with agriculture has gone up by 400% in the last few years. This means that the price swings in ag commodities is now 4 times greater than […]
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Lock in Low Rates Now!
Dr. Michael Boehlje, a farm economics professor at Purdue University spoke at out opening day of the National Ag conference of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (I know that is a mouthful). He gave a 4 plus hour presentation on the agricultural economy both currently and insights into the future. One of the […]
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When is a Deposit Income?
I will be at the annual American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Ag Convention in Denver today till Friday. I hope to come away some ideas for our farmers. We had a reader ask the following question: “Can you hold checks that have been sent to us for grain sold in 2010 until 2011?” The […]