June, 2012
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US is Rarely #1 in Yields
I think it is fairly common for us as Americans to assume that our agricultural production leads the world in yields. But when you review the average yields by variety, in many cases, the US does not even make the top 5 for yield. Part of this may be due to smaller countries using irrigation […]
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Present is Better Than Future!
Many farmers have created limited partnerships or limited liability companies (LLC) to hold their farmland. As part of this process, gifts are made to children and grandchildren for estate planning purposes. For 2012, each person can give $13,000 (most likely rising to $14,000 in 2013) to as many people as they want and not have this gift counted […]
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FSA Overpaid $28 Million in Sure Claims in 2011
The Office of the Inspector General released a May audit of USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) assistance programs, estimating that about $28 million in FSA payments were improperly distributed during fiscal year 2011. The Office sampled 122 payments totaling $5.2 million. 14 errors were identified, 10 of which were SURE payments. Many of the errors […]
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Another Large Charitable Donation Gets Thrown Out!
We have done a couple of posts on the requirements for reporting charitable donations, whether in cash or non-cash. The penalty for not documenting these donations properly is, in most cases, a complete dis-allowance of the deduction. Now, we have another Tax Court case showing the folly of a “sophisticated” taxpayer not following the instructions […]