Ag-Visors

Sometimes a farm, livestock or horse activity may be closely connected to one’s principal occupation, with certain tax advantages.  If two activities are treated as one, deductions and income from each activity can be aggregated in deciding whether the taxpayer has the requisite profit motive under the IRS hobby loss rule.

FSA makes direct and guaranteed farm ownership (FO) and operating loans (OL) to family-size farmers and ranchers who cannot obtain commercial credit from a bank, Farm Credit System institution or other lender.

People in the livestock and horse industries are already hardpressed with IRS audits and difficult rules requiring the showing of the intention to make a profit despite ongoing losses.

People in the livestock and horse industries are already hardpressed with IRS audits and difficult rules requiring the showing of the intention to make a profit despite ongoing losses. The IRS Commissioner has said the IRS is determined to be more aggressive going after Americans who do not file tax returns, overstate their deductions, or who fail to report their offshore accounts, as well as farmers and ranchers who exaggerate depreciation and other deductions.

With recent cattle prices any calf born is no longer worth $400-500. We are now looking at them being worth $650 to $1,000. And everyone is getting more intent on doing what ever they can to save them.

A new case, Mullins vs. United States, decided in the United States District Court in Knoxville, Tenn., considered an individual who owned and operated a cattle-raising operation who claimed he was entitled to deduct losses over a period of years. The court issued an opinion which focused on the fact that the taxpayer had consulted industry and legal experts in the industry, and that the land used for the cattle operation had appreciated in value. The court held that these factors indicated the individual’s profit motive.

The New Year is off and running and the FDA has also put out a new restriction on the use of antibiotics in food animals. This announcement came out the very first week of 2012. With all of the other restrictions we have to follow today, we are now getting more.

The holiday season is here and I want to take time to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and may the New Year bring you good fortune. With holidays come foods and sweets. All of this food is great, except for our waste line, and what about those pets?

Mr. and Mrs. Harold Kahla of Tomball, Texas were denied farm deductions of $2,658,774 for their cattle and deer ranches, even though Mr. Kahla was knowledgeable about livestock farming and was highly successful in other businesses. They owned 300 head of cattle.

This fall I have had a few calls about anaplasmosis. This is a disease of cattle that is caused by a ricketsia bacterium. This bacteria is transmitted to cattle by ticks, blood sucking insects and iatrogenic. Iatrogenic transmission is where we use needles and undisinfected instruments on animals. The bacterium is picked up from use on one animal and then the instrument is used on another animal giving the disease to the next animal.