Agricultural Tax Training
These materials are developed by the University of Arkansas School of Law as part of the Taxpayer Education and Asset Protection Initiative (TEAP). TEAP is funded with American Recovery Act funds and administered by the USDA Farm Service Agency through a partnership with the University of Arkansas Southern Risk Management Education Center and others.
The role of the law school is to: 1. Develop materials on small farm income tax and asset protection issues appropriate for use by agricultural educators, tax professionals, and farmers/ranchers; 2. Train agricultural educators and farm business service providers on how to use the materials to serve small farms/ranches; and 3. Train legal and tax professionals on tax issues unique to small farms/ranches.
The focus of TEAP and of these materials is underserved producers including BIPOC and other marginalized producers, and producers with operations that are small, highly diversified, direct-market focused, or otherwise out of the mainstream of agricultural operations in their region. The training tools will be free-standing modules; each of which could be delivered separately or packaged together. Modules will be a combination of webinar, recorded videos, and supplemental tools to help users determine which modules are most appropriate.
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number FSA22CPT0012189. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In addition, any reference to specific brands or types of products or services does not constitute or imply an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for those products or services.
The materials include:
- Recordings of each of the five presentations.
- The PowerPoint presentation slides in pdf.
- Scripts for the PowerPoint presentations with additional information for discussion, suggestions for class engagement, and additional resources
- Diagnostic tools to help an instructor or a student determine if a particular lesson is likely to meet their needs.
- A supplemental pdf with a decision-tree to support Lesson 1.
- Supplemental materials will be programmed into a computer-assisted survey in 2024.
Lesson 1: Filing
Lesson 1 -- Filing. Materials in this lesson relate to if it is required or recommended that a farmer/rancher report farming or ranching activities on a federal income tax return. Topics covered include basic filing requirements, penalties, amended returns and why it might be wise to file even when it is not required.
Lesson 2: Records
Lesson 2 -- Records. Materials in this lesson relate to basic IRS requirements for records needed to support items reported on a tax return. Definitions of income, deductions and assets are covered as well as special record requirements, how long records should be kept, and recommendations for best practices (formal bookkeeping) as a way of meeting the IRS records requirements.
Lesson 3: Tax
Lesson 3 -- Tax. Materials in this lesson relate to how income and self-employment taxes are calculated and include discussions of self-employment income including how to ensure that both spouses are paying into Social Security and Medicare, optional Farm Method for Self Employment Taxes, and the Earned Income Credit.
Lesson 4: Entities
Lesson 4 -- Entities. Materials in this lesson relate to partnerships, LLCs and S-corporations and include a discussion of limited and unlimited liability and how to file taxes when a business is owned by a married couple or when it is owned by two or more people who are not married to each other.
Lesson 5: Agricultural Income
Lesson 5 -- Agricultural Income. This lesson contains materials related to the tax definition of agricultural income and why that definition matters.
Lesson 5 Agricultural Income: Evaluation
