News
You can’t wait to see if we go over the cliff
It looks like Congress is going to take one last-ditch effort to avoid going over the fiscal cliff on Monday night. House members have been called back, Republican leadership told their members on Friday to be back in Washington by Sunday evening to vote on whatever the Senate sends them. The first vote is scheduled for 6:30.
No indication as to whether Ag Committee leadership will attempt to attach legislation to extend key provisions of the recently-expired farm bill in an effort to among other things, keep the price of milk from more than doubling.
The situation is raising a lot of questions for farmers. Should you defer income? Should you pay taxes this year instead of next year? Should you push expenses into next year and bring income into this year? What about transferring land? Brad Guse is an ag loan specialist with BMO Harris Bank in Wisconsin; he says every farm and farmer’s situation is different and you really need to talk to your tax people now!
AUDIO: Guse talks about the situation 2:49 mp3
This would be great advice if it wasn’t so late. For instance, can one really make a land transfer decision and complete the transaction in one day?