6 Tips for Tax Time: Make the Most of the Year’s End

 

As the calendar year comes to a close, most dairy farmers have already made at least one trip to the accountant’s office. There’s a good chance most dairy farmers have enough expenses to offset low on-farm income this year, but it still pays to pay attention to year-end tax basics. Here are a few tax tips from Paul Neiffer, CPA and principal at CliftonLarsenAllen.

 

This should go without saying, but your accountant can only work with the information you provide. If your records are incomplete, you could end up paying more taxes than necessary.

 

“If you are a schedule F farmer with children under age 18, make sure to pay them what they really earned this year,” Neiffer advises. “Children with no other income can earn about $6,000 this year tax-free (some states might require a little bit of tax) and the wages paid are completely deductible and even better, no payroll taxes are owed.” He says the child can take those earnings and contribute to a Roth IRA account. If your child puts $5,000 into a Roth IRA at age 17 and lets it compound until age 65, it will grow to about $80,000.

 

If you do not itemize and plan on giving money to your church or other charity at year-end, consider giving a commodity gift instead, Neiffer says. This will reduce taxable income and your selfemployment tax burden if you file a schedule F or are a partner. Similarly, consider gifting grain to your child. “You reduce your self-employment tax, and if they hold the grain for at least a year after harvest you will qualify for longterm capital gains treatment,” Neiffer explains. “If you make this gift, make sure to gift a prior year crop, not the current year crop.

 

Consider selling some grain on a deferred payment contract. “This gives you flexibility after year-end if you need to bring income into 2018,” Neiffer explains.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.