April, 2011
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If the Bubble Busts, How Long to Recover
There has been a lot of talk lately in the press about whether farm land prices are entering a bubble phase similar to farm land in the early 1980’s or tech stocks in the late 1990’s. I decided to take a look at farm land prices for good Iowa farmland from 1950 to 2010 and […]
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Don’t Taint Your Farm Building
We had a reader ask the following question: “Does a construction company putting up a building get the same 100% bonus depreciation for 2011 like is on Ag buildings” The quick answer to this is “no”. A construction related building is not considered to be 20 year property and therefore is normally depreciated over 39 […]
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It’s Total Farm Compensation – Not Wages – That Counts
I think that every farm operation should have an employment contract with each of their farm employees including all family members employed in the farm operation. As part of this document, there should be an exhibit that outlines the total compensation package to each employee. Most farm operations offer much more than a wage such […]
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Deduct Your Tiling This Year
We got the following question from one of our readers: “IF A TENANT TILES OUT LEASED FARMLAND CAN THE TENANT DEDUCT THE COST OF THE DRAINAGE TILE AND LABOR DURING THAT TAX YEAR ON SCHEDULE F?” 2011 provides a great opportunity for either an operating farmer or landlord to put in new tile and deduct […]
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Goodbye Pesky New 1099 Reporting
As we have posted here several times, last year, a new law was put into place that required reporting of all transactions over $600 to any vendor in a year. This included paying gas to the local coop, buying your fertilizer, etc. Yesterday, the Senate passed a bill which President Obama is expected to sign […]