July, 2012
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That Did Not Take Long!
The Senate failed today to limit debate on their small business tax bill after (as usual) Democrats and Republicans disagreed about proposed amendments to the bill. The Senate voted 73-24 to table the Republican-favored amendment containing the text of the House-passed small business bill (H.R. 9) that would have provided for the 20% small business deduction […]
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White House Proposes Increasing Section 179 Deduction in 2013 to $250,000
The White House just announced several initiatives today including increasing the Section 179 deduction for 2013 from the current $25,000 amount to $250,000. This will require Congress to update the law to reflect this amount, so the change of this happening is not certain. However, the mood of Congress and the President is to help […]
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Peregrine Financial Group Files for Bankruptcy
Peregrine Financial Group of Cedar Falls, Iowa filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday. The National Futures Association had received information that the company’s founder had, for many years, falsified bank confirmations indicating over $225 million in the bank account when in fact, the account may have contained only $5 million or less. The founder, Russell Wasendorf, SR. […]
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Senate Bill 2237 Appears to be on the Fast Track
Due to the last three lackluster monthly jobs reports, the Senate appears to be trying to fast track Senate Bill 2237 “Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act” to passage. This bill provides the following: A new income tax credit equal to 10% of the excess compensation paid in 2012 over 2011. These compensation levels […]
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Most Farmers Would Prefer House Over Senate Farm Bill
Texas A & M just published a very good report on the key differences between the House and Senate Farm Bill. The report indicated that for almost all farmers, the House version of the farm bill would provide more revenue over the five year period than the Senate version and in the case of lower […]
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Don’t Forget About 2013 – 2015 crops
With the weather market rally of recent weeks, we sometimes forget that these rallies also raise prices for the next couple of crop years. This rise, in many cases, can provide a chance to lock in profits for those crop years that may not materialize if you wait until the actual crop year arrives. As the […]
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Watch Out For Your S Corporation Debt Basis
Many farmers will have their active farm operation contained within a corporation and in many cases, this corporation is taxed as an S corporation. If the S corporation has a loss, this loss can be deducted on the shareholder’s tax return, but only to the extent of the shareholder’s basis. This basis is comprised of […]
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Canada Has Some Very Nice Farmland
My wife and I just got back from a five day motorcycle trip into British Columbia, Canada. Our original plans called for us to make it all the way to Jasper and then work our way back down through Banff and then home. However, Mother Nature decided to throw one full day of rain at […]