Farm Taxes
-
Succession Planning…. Start Early
I had the pleasure of speaking at the Tri-State Grain Growers Convention (WA, OR and ID) this past Friday on a panel about family farm succession where I was able to share the perspective of a CPA. The other panelists were an attorney, a financial advisor, and a family business advisor and we discussed a […]
-
Final FUTA Tax Rates by State
The normal FUTA tax rate is 6% on wages up to $7,000, however, if the farmer timely pays their State Unemployment Taxes (and meet certain other rules), they are allowed to take a 5.4% credit to bring the net FUTA tax per employee down to .6% (on $7,000 this equals $42 of FUTA tax). However, for several […]
-
DOL Plays Hardball (Don’t Shoot the Messenger)!
The Department of Labor released last week an updated Q & A related to the reimbursement of health insurance premiums by employers and the use of Section 105 plans to possibly get around these restrictions. Although I am including the link, I will actually show the three Q & A from the DOL so there […]
-
A Christmas Present?!
Now that the mid-term elections have resulted in a landslide for Republicans (who have two years to not mess it up), we turn to the lame-duck congressional session that will occur between now and the end of the year. In the session two years ago, Congress extended many “extenders” including keeping Section 179 at $500,000 […]
-
Make sure to fairly compensate piece-rate employees
A recent settlement in Washington state has one farm potentially paying an out-of-court settlement amount that will approximate $850,000 for back pay and legal fees. You can find a full detail of the story here. The lawsuit discussed in the article alleges the berry farm failed to pay workers for all the time they spent […]
-
IRS Announces Various Inflation Adjusted Items
Last night I rode in the combine in Northeastern Iowa from about 7 pm to about 2:30 am. We cut about 10,000 bushels of corn with a John Deere S680 and I must admit there is something therapeutic about seeing corn come into the combine and then get dumped into the grain cart. I look […]
-
IRS Disagrees With Morehouse Ruling (Of Course)
The IRS released on October 16, 2014 a new bulletin on their website (in the small business section) regarding the taxation of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) payments. Although the release was dated after the Morehouse appeal case which was released on October 10, 2014, the IRS has not changed their stance regarding the taxation of […]
-
2015 Social Security Wage Base Increases to $118,500
FICA tax of 6.2% for employer and employee applies on wages and SE earnings up to $117,000 for 2014. The Social Security Administration (SSA) just announced that for 2015, the new wage base will be $118,500 or an increase of $1,500. This means, that for 2015, the maximum Social Security tax that employers and employees will […]
-
Will ACA Require You To Include Health Insurance as Wages
Updated information on 11/9: http://www.farmcpatoday.com/2014/11/09/dol-plays-hardball Many farmers provide health insurance for their employees. In years past; whether the employer offered a qualified group plan or simply paid for the employee’s health insurance, the payment of the premium was deductible by the farmer and non-taxable to the employee. However, beginning January 1, 2014, an employee is only […]
-
Join Andy Biebl, Lance Woodbury and Myself
DTN/Progressive Farmer puts on an Ag Summit in Chicago every year in December. This year on Sunday December 7 from 1 pm to 5 pm, Andy Biebl, Lance Woodbury and myself will be doing a joint presentation on Farm Retirement and Transition Planning. Some of the key topics that Andy and I will be presenting […]