Tax issues from unseeded land

It’s ironic, but some producers in the extremely wet areas may end up with an income tax problem this year. Here’s why. In good years, producers typically defer income on grain sales. A lot of income was deferred into 2010. Many of the inputs for this year will have been purchased and expensed in 2009. These inputs will either be returned for a credit or held over and used in 2011. Unseeded acres won’t require a lot of inputs. Producers with crop insurance will get an Unseeded Acreage Payment that will land in this calendar year. They may also get an interim AgriStability payment. Add it all up and you have more cash income than expected and few options for deferring any of it. On the other side of the ledger, your expenses are way down. Accountants who are making projections for farmer clients are coming up with some large tax liabilities. This can be particularly harsh for farm operations that are not incorporated. This will not be a good year financially for producers that have a large percentage of their land unseeded, but if you’re in that boat (pardon the pun), you might want to run some numbers and do some tax planning. I’m Kevin Hursh.