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Farm Tax Workshops for Missouri Farmers and Ranchers

Mary Sobba

Summary

Understanding taxes is a challenge for many farmers and ranchers. There are many rules, which can make a substantial difference in the total tax amount. In December of 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law with many changes affecting agriculture. The new law provided the most drastic changes in over thirty years. University Extension offered training for tax preparers, and then realized additional training was needed for farmers and ranchers. Extension specialists developed content for a workshop, which was delivered by three extension specialists focusing on topics relevant to farm families. The topic of individual issues included information affecting all taxpayers such as tax brackets, estate and gift tax exemptions and charitable contributions. Agricultural tax issues focused on qualified business income deduction and depreciation changes. State issues focused on drought elections and deductions. The purpose of the workshops was to help the farmers and ranchers understand the changes, so they could be more prepared to work with their tax preparer. Workshops were delivered using distance learning technology (Zoom) to reach many parts of the state. Extension specialists developed a survey to determine the knowledge gained and also the effectiveness of using distance education. The survey data was very positive, so extension specialists are considering offering annual farmer tax workshops. The workshop was a program with no participant fee.

Details

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