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New BNA Tax Portfolio Analyzes Tax Accounting Rules for Farmers and Ranchers

NEWS RELEASE

Contacts:
Mark Carrington
(202) 530-1728

Washington, DC (March 9, 2007) – BNA®, publisher of the authoritative and universally recognized Tax Management Portfolios, has released the latest addition to the U.S. Income series. Portfolio 608-2nd Reporting Farm Income describes the tax accounting periods and methods available to farmers and ranchers to determine their federal tax liability, including the cash and accrual methods of accounting, which are modified to provide relief to farmers and to limit the use of farms as tax shelters, and the crop method.

Prepared by Neil E. Harl, Esq., and Roger A. McEowen, Esq., this Portfolio, which complements 607 T.M., Farm and Ranch Expenses and Credits, analyzes in detail the special rules applicable to farms, including: (1) constructive receipt and deferral of income; (2) gifting of commodities (charitable and non-charitable); (3) sale of commodities after retirement; (4) hedging and speculation with farm commodities; (5) handling disaster payments; and (6) excluding cost share payments from income. The Portfolio also discusses the self-employment tax implications in reporting farm income including the handling of Conservation Reserve Program Payments, consequences of renting land to a family-owned entity and the reporting of value-added payments from a cooperative.

Neil E. Harl, Esq. is the Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agriculture and Emeritus Professor of Economics at Iowa State University (Ames).  Dr. Harl, the former Director of the Center for International Agricultural Finance from 1990 through 2004, is a frequent author and lecturer on tax aspects of estate and business planning. Dr. Harl earned a B.S. from Iowa State University (1955); a J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law (1961); and a Ph.D. from Iowa State University (1965). He is a member of the Iowa Bar.

Dr. Harl has served on six federal advisory bodies -- a Farm Tax Reform Task Force for the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 1967; the Commissioner's Advisory Group (Commissioner of Internal Revenue) in 1979-80; the USDA Farm Structure Task Force in 1980; the Office of Technology Assessment, Technical Advisory Committee, by Congressional Appointment, 1987-1995 (chair in 1993-94); the USDA Advisory Committee on Agricultural Biotechnology, 2000-2002; and the Commission on Federal Payment Limitations in Agriculture, 2002-2003.

Roger A. McEowen, Esq., is the Leonard Dolezal Professor of Agricultural Law at Iowa State University (Ames) and Director of the Iowa State University Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation.  He has written extensively on legal issues impacting farm and ranch operations.  Mr. McEowen earned a B.S. from Purdue University (1986); a M.S. from Iowa State University (1990); and a J.D. from Drake University School of Law (1991). He is a member of the Kansas and Nebraska bars, and an honorary member of the Iowa Bar.

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About BNA®
BNA is the foremost publisher of print and electronic news, analysis, and reference products, including the recently launched Accounting Policy & Practice Series.  It provides intensive coverage of legal and regulatory developments for professionals in business and government. BNA is the oldest wholly employee-owned company in the United States, and produces more than 200 news and information services — including Daily Labor Report and Daily Tax Report — widely respected for comprehensive and objective reporting and analysis.

For more information about the BNA Tax Management Portfolios, call (800) 372.1033.