Ag Tax Management To Be Discussed

One month has passed since our wonderful medical profession has realigned my spine, cleaned out the corrosion in some of the major nerve channels and inserted some wood screws to hold my spine in place. Recovery is on pace and I am now able to spend a full day in the office and continue writing a weekly column.

The first thing I need to do is call attention to the tax program scheduled Friday, November 30th, 9 a.m. to 12 noon CST. This interactive video meeting will take place in the Conference Room of the Williams County Courthouse. The agenda of the meeting provides an excellent opportunity for agricultural producers and tax preparers to learn about tax management alternatives while there is still time to implement year-end tax management decisions.

There will be updates on issues regarding federal income taxes and estate taxes. The IRS will discuss issues such as audit emphasis and identity theft awareness for taxpayers and practitioners. Depreciation rules and strategies will be reviewed. The proper use and opportunities for like-kind exchanges will be detailed.

A discussion on different business entities for farmers and their tax implications will be provided and strategies for using S-Corp’s for farming will be explored. Lastly, there are sessions which provide an overview of when to accelerate or defer income in conjunction with expense timing to manage tax liabilities now and for the future.

The program, sponsored by the NDSU Extension Service and Internal Revenue Service, will feature presentations by Ann Makres, IRS; Steve Eckroth, EideBailly, Bismarck; Brenda Laub, CPA, Valley City; Steve Troyer, EideBailly, Fargo; and Marshall McCullough, OhnstadTwichell, West Fargo.

Four question and answer periods are scheduled during the three-hour program. Pre-registration is required, as seating is limited. The cost for the program and materials is $12.

For additional information or registration, call the Williams County Extension Office at 701-577-4595.

Cropping Decisions 2013

A series of “Cropping Decisions 2013” meetings have been scheduled for December 10-14 across northwest North Dakota. The NDSU Extension Service in Williams County will be hosting one of these meetings in the Conference Room of the Williams County Courthouse on Wednesday, December 12th at 1:30 p.m. The outlook for next year’s cropping season may be coupled with many questions ranging from what crop prices are going to be to what the growing season may bring in terms of moisture, temperature, etc. The “Cropping Decisions 2013” meeting series is designed to cover a variety of agronomic, management, and market issues that could be of concern to producers in the 2013 growing season.

One of the speakers will be Joel Ransom, NDSU Extension Cereal Crops Agronomist. He will discuss the disease called Fusarium Head Blight, (FHB), also referred to as scab. This disease was the primary reason for moving durum production to this area of the state from the north central and eastern regions. Given the right moisture conditions, it has occasionally become a problem in this region. Ransom will discuss why there are market discounts on wheat infected with FHB but more importantly he will share management strategies to reduce the impacts of FHB and disease forecasting models to aid in the decision to apply fungicides as a preventative measure.

Frayne Olson, NDSU Extension Crop Marketing Economist, will cover two related topics. The first is changes that are occurring in the Canadian grain marketing systems and the implications and possible impacts of those changes on U.S. markets. He also will provide a crop market outlook for what is left of 2012 and into the 2013 crop year.

Chris Augustin, Area Extension Soil Health Specialist, will talk about soil health, the impacts of salinity and salinity management.

Other similar meetings are scheduled December 12, 9 a.m., Dakota Theater in Crosby and December 13, 1:30 p.m., McKenzie County Courthouse.