Dec 10 2008
Year End Small Farm Finances
It is almost that time again- the end of the year and time to organize all of your small farm paperwork for taxes. Personally, I usually do all of my paperwork around this time of December each year because I hate playing beat the clock on tax day. Since I’ve been married I’ve always done the taxes, with the exception of a friend who worked for H&R Block and did my taxes the first year I was married.
Ever since that first year, I realized doing taxes wasn’t that big of a deal, especially with all of those do-it-yourself tax programs on CD. For about $20-30 dollars, I could do my taxes and save a bundle! While I know I can deduct the cost of my taxes every year, I don’t like having to pay up front a few hundred dollars for the privilege of having someone do what I could easily do in the same amount of time. (Last year I would have paid $318 to have a tax preparer do my paperwork!). This isn’t an advertisement, but I usually use TaxCut. It saves my information from the previous year and imports it in the new tax year. This is especially handy if you are depreciating expenses, such as farm equipment.
Hopefully, you have already saved certain receipts for your farm projects, such as receipts for any equipment you bought during the year. Have these receipts ready:
- Animals bought, sold or expired
- Expenses for advertising the sale of any animals, farm equipment or crops
- Expenses related to farm vehicles, equipment repair or insurance
- Property taxes
- Worker-related expenses
- Receipts for any books, magazines or farm-related memberships (such as Farm Bureau)
- Receipts for registering any purebred animals
- Records for any losses
If you are using a tax program computer CD, just follow the prompts- it is that easy! It will provide you with information on what goes in every field of the program, and they all come with pop-up help programs so you can get specific information each step of the way. While you have to pay a fee to file the taxes on the state and federal level (usually around $12-$20 each for state and federal), it can be deducted from your refund if you wish.
These tax preparer programs are just like the ones a professional preparer uses, so give them a try if you want to save money and do your taxes accurately. These programs can be purchased at stores like WalMart, Staples and Target, usually starting in early January.
Filing online will save you time and money- you’ll receive your refund usually within 14 days or less, especially if you file in January. So, get those small farm records together and file early this year!
~~Charlotte
