Farmers Should Be Able to File Tax Returns by Monday

The IRS announced today that most if not all of the forms waiting to be released should be final and ready for processing by Monday.  Some software providers may be ready a few hours earlier, but we are guessing that all should be ready on Monday.

If you file on or after Monday, you are not required to pay your tax until April 15.  However, in the past, some of our clients have gotten notices indicating tax amount due before the April 15 deadline when filing too early before actual payment.  If you plan is to pay around April 15, we would suggest waiting to file your return until later in March.

On another note, I attended the first day of the Commodity Classic in Orlando today and visited with several clients, friends and others.  This is a great show to meet other farmers and if you have never attended, I would highly recommend it.

The final crop insurance numbers for corn and soybeans were determined with today’s trading.  The price is $5.65 for corn and $12.87 for beans.  The corn price is a few pennies lower than last year and the bean price is about 30 cents higher.  This may provide a tiny bit of incentive to switch to beans, but based on what we are hearing talking to farmers, input providers and others, we do not see too much of a change.  Close to 100 million corn acres but probably 2-3 million short (but we know this can change with weather, etc.).

Paul Neiffer, CPA