Farm Taxes
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WA State Piece Rate Workers Must Be Compensated for Breaks
The WA Supreme Court decided on July 16, 2015 in Demetrio v. Sakuma Bros. Farms, Inc. that employers must pay piece rate workers for rest periods “separate and apart from the piece rate.” Farm workers paid by the task are entitled to rest-break pay above the negotiated piece rate. This ruling is the result of a […]
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Senate Finance Committee to Markup Tax Extenders Bill This Week
The Senate Finance Committee will hold a meeting this week to markup legislation that will extend dozens of expired tax provisions likely for all of 2015 AND 2016. Included in the bill of special interest to farmers is the following: Section 179 would remain at $500,000 for 2015 and 2016 reverting back to $25,000 in […]
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CHS will not issue Non-Qualified patronage, will issue DPAD
In a recent news release, the CHS Board of Directors has announced that the company will not issue non-qualified equity to eligible member-owners as part of its patronage distribution for fiscal year ended August 31, 2015. Also, because of this, CHS will pass through to eligible owners the unused portion of the company’s IRS Section […]
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Not Filing a Information Return is Getting More Expense
Late last month Congress passed the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 to continue the fast track of trade negotiations (TPA, etc.). However, to pay for part of the Act’s provisions, the Act increased the penalties for not filing information returns (Form 1099) and the increase can be substantial in the case of multiple non-filed […]
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Senate Finance Committee Releases Tax Reform Reports
The Senate Finance Committee just released four reports on possible tax reforms yesterday. The reports were on the following aspects of tax reform: The Business Income Report The Community Development and Infrastructure Report The Individual Tax Report The Savings and Investment Report In today’s post, I will recap some of my findings from the first […]
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One Last Summer Seminar
The Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation has one last summer seminar later this month in Lake Tahoe. I helped present at the Findley Lake, New York and Spearfish, South Dakota seminars and will be tied up with the Farm Financial Standards Council annual meeting. Taking my place will be Chris Hesse from our National […]
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It Pays to Follow the Rules
The US Tax Court released a full opinion yesterday in the Webber v. Commissioner case that shows how important it is to follow the rules. In 1999, Mr. Webber created a grantor Alaska Trust (Alaska has no income tax) to purchase two private placement insurance policies for about $700,000. Private placement insurance allows a taxpayer […]
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June 30 Extension for Medical Insurance Penalties Rapidly Approaches
Small employers received some relief this year when steep penalties for employer payment plans were extended to June 30, 2015. These $100 per day per employee penalties apply when employers pay for or reimburse an employee’s individual health insurance premiums rather than provide employer sponsored group insurance. All employers were originally expected to comply by […]
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Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Obamacare
The Supreme Court released their long awaited ruling on whether participants obtaining health insurance from the federal marketplace instead of the state sponsored exchanges would be allowed to have subsidies, etc. In a 6-3 decision (Chief Justice Roberts plus Kennedy and the 4 more liberal justices ruled in favor plus Scalia, Thomas and Alito ruling […]
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AICPA Ag Conference
We are now less than three weeks to the AICPA Ag Conference being held in Indianapolis on Monday July 13 to Wednesday July 15. For those who are interested in attending, there is still seats available but you should contact the AICPA immediately. The lineup of speakers is very good and whether you are a producer, […]