Many States Are Delaying Farmer Filing Deadline
As discussed in a couple of other posts, the IRS has extended the farmer filing deadline from March 1, 2013 to April 15, 2013 for those farmers who “miss” the March 1 deadline. We are starting to see various states follow suit as follows:
Some states base their filing deadline using the federal law such as Illinois and Kansas. If you live in one of these states, you may not get a notice stating the state has granted relief until April 15 since they are basing your filing deadline on Federal rules. If this applies to your situation, we would strongly suggest reviewing this with your tax advisor now to determine if your due date is March 1 or April 15.
Since most state income tax law and e-file systems are based upon the federal form 1040 information, we believe that most states will follow the Federal rules on filing your 2012 form 1040, but as someone said to me lately, “logic and tax law do not necessarily go together”.
Paul Neiffer, CPA
Paul Neiffer is a certified public accountant and business advisor specializing in income taxation, accounting services, and succession planning for farmers and agribusiness processors. Paul is a principal with CliftonLarsonAllen in Walla Walla, Washington, as well as a regular speaker at national conferences and contributor at agweb.com. Raised on a farm in central Washington, he has been immersed in the ag industry his entire life, including the last 30 years professionally. Paul and his wife purchase an 180 acre ranch in 2016 and enjoy keeping it full of animals.
In response to a recent inquiry about whether farmers are required to make estimated payments for their Illinois Income Tax by March 1, Paul Caselton, of the Illinois Department of Revenue wrote the following:
IRC [Internal Revenue Code] Section 6654(i) requires farmers and fishermen to make only one estimated tax payment each year. It is due on January 15 for calendar year taxpayers, which is the same date as the last estimated tax installment is due for other individuals. That section also provides that no payment is due on January 15 if the farmer files his or her income tax return and pays the tax liability by March 1.
Under IITA [Illinois Income Tax Act] Section 803(a), farmers are exempt from making estimated tax payment, period. There is no January 15 due date, and no March 1 filing requirement. Farmers, as is true with all individuals, must pay their taxes by April 15 and are allowed an automatic extension for filing (but not payment) until October 15.
Paul
Sec. 803. Payment Of Estimated Tax.
(a) Every taxpayer other than an estate, trust, partnership, Subchapter S corporation or farmer is required to pay estimated tax for the taxable year, in such amount and with such forms as the Department shall prescribe, if the amount payable as estimated tax can reasonably be expected to be more than (i) $250 for taxable years ending before December 31, 2001 and $500 for taxable years ending on or after December 31, 2001 or (ii) $400 for corporations.
Ray Watson, IDOA GC