Tax
Written by Barry Ward, Production Business Management Leader and OSU Income Tax Schools Director
Soon after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act became law in December of 2017 it became evident that cooperatives had been granted a significant advantage under the new tax law. Sales to cooperatives would be allowed a Qualified Business Income Deduction (QBID) of 20% of gross income and not of net income. Sales to businesses other than cooperatives would be eligible only for the QBID of net income which was a significant disadvantage. Suddenly cooperatives had an advantage that non-cooperative businesses couldn’t match and most of the farm sector scrambled to position themselves to take advantage of this tax advantage. Some farmers directed larger portions of their sales or prospective sales toward cooperatives. Non-cooperative businesses lobbied for a change to this piece of the new tax law while looking for ways to add a cooperative model to their own businesses to stay competitive.
Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 in March of 2018 which eliminated this advantage to cooperatives and replaced it with a new hybrid QBID for sales to cooperatives which offered more tax neutrality between sales to cooperatives and non-cooperatives. While this new legislation leveled the playing field between cooperatives and non-cooperatives, it left many questions unanswered; chief among them was how taxpayers should allocate expenses between sales to cooperatives and non-cooperatives.
One area that was clarified for calculating the QBID for all businesses including cooperatives was how certain deductions should be handled with respect to the Qualified Business Income Deduction (QBID).
For purposes of the QBID (IRC §199A), deductions such as the deductible portion of the tax on self-employment income under § 164(f), the self-employed health insurance deduction under § 162(l), and the deduction for contributions to qualified retirement plans under § 404 are considered attributable to a trade or business (including farm businesses) to the extent that the individual’s gross income from the trade or business is taken into account in calculating the allowable deduction, on a proportionate basis.
Under the final regulations, expenses for half the self-employment (SE) tax, self-employed health insurance, and pension contributions must be subtracted from preliminary QBI figure, before any cooperative reductions are made (if applicable).
While final regulations on the new QBID were published on Jan. 18, 2019, there were still many questions left unanswered as to how the deduction would be handled in relation to cooperatives. As the QBID is calculated differently between the income from sales to cooperatives and non-cooperatives, taxpayers and tax practitioners were left with uncertainty.
A simplified explanation of the steps used to calculate the QBID under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) §199A for income attributable to sales to cooperatives is listed here:
Step 1: First, patrons calculate the 20 percent §199A QBID that would apply if they had sold the commodity to a non-cooperative.
Step 2: The patron must then subtract from that initial §199A deduction amount whichever of the following is smaller:
- 9 percent of the QBI allocable to cooperative sale(s) OR
- 50 percent of W2 wages paid allocable to income from sales to cooperatives
Step 3: Add the “Domestic Production Activities Deduction (DPAD)-like” deduction (if any) passed through to them by the cooperative pursuant to IRC §199A(g)(2)(A). The determination of the amount of this new “DPAD-like” deduction will generally range from 0 to 9 percent of the cooperative's qualified production activities income (QPAI) attributable to that patron's sales.
Parts of the new tax law do offer some simplification. Calculating the QBID isn’t necessarily one of those parts.
The result of all of these calculations is that income attributable to sales to cooperatives may result in an effective net QBID that is:
- Possibly greater than 20% if the farmer taxpayer pays no or few W2 wages and coop passes through all or a large portion of the allocable “DPADlike” deduction
- Approximately equal to 20% if the farmer taxpayer pays enough W2 wages to fully limit their coop sales QBID to 11% and the coop passes through all allocable “DPADlike” deduction
- Possibly less than 20% if farmer taxpayer pays enough W2 wages to fully limit their coop sales QBID to 11% and the coop passes through less than the allocable “DPADlike” deduction
On June 18th, the IRS released proposed regulations under IRC §199A on the patron deduction and the IRC §199A calculations for cooperatives. The proposed regulations provide that when a taxpayer receives both qualified payments from cooperatives and other income from non-cooperatives, the taxpayer must allocate deductions using a “reasonable method based on all the facts and circumstances.” Different reasonable methods may be used for the different items and related deductions. The chosen reasonable method, however, must be consistently applied from one tax year to another and must clearly reflect the income and expenses of the business.
So what “reasonable methods” might be accepted by the IRS? The final regulations (when they are provided) may give us further guidance or we may be left to choose some “reasonable” method in allocating expenses between the two types of income. Acceptable methods may include allocating expenses on a prorated basis by bushel/cwt or by gross sales attributable to cooperatives and non-cooperatives. Producers may also consider tracing costs on a per field basis and tracking sales of those bushels/cwt to either a cooperative or non-cooperative.
Included in the proposed regulations released in June was a set of rules for “safe harbor”. A taxpayer with taxable income under the QBID threshold ($157,500 Single Filer / $315,000 Joint Filer) may ratably apportion business expenses based on the amount of payments from sales to cooperative and non-cooperatives as they relate to total gross receipts. In other words, expenses may be allocated between cooperative and non-cooperative income based on the respective proportions of gross sales that fall to cooperatives and non-cooperatives.
Some questions that haven’t been answered clearly is how certain other income should be allocated between income from cooperatives and non-cooperatives. Tax reform now requires farmers to report gain on traded-in farm equipment. In many cases, farm income will be negative and all of the income for the business will be from trading-in farm equipment. The question is how do we allocate this income (IRC §1245 Gain)? Some commentators contend that none of these gains should be allocated to cooperative income which would eliminate the issue, however, the depreciation deduction taken on the equipment was likely allocated to cooperative income, thus reducing the effect of the 9% of AGI patron reduction. This would suggest that these gains may have to be allocated between cooperative and non-cooperative income.
How should government payments be allocated? If a farmer sells all of their commodities to a cooperative and receive a government payment (i.e. ARC or PLC), should that be treated as cooperative income or not. Hopefully, the final regulations will provide some further clarity on these issues.
The information in this article is the opinion of the author and is intended for educational purposes only. You are encouraged to consult professional tax or legal advice in regards to your facts and circumstances regarding the application of the general tax principles cited in this article.
Written by Barry Ward, Leader, Production Business Management & Director, OSU Income Tax Schools
Prevented Planting Crop Insurance Indemnity Payments
With unprecedented amounts of prevented planting insurance claims this year in Ohio and other parts of the Midwest, many producers will be considering different tax management strategies in dealing with this unusual income stream. In a normal year, producers have flexibility in how they generate and report income. In a year such as this when they will have a large amount of income from insurance indemnity payments the flexibility is greatly reduced. In a normal year a producer may sell a part of grain produced in the year of production and store the remainder until the following year to potentially take advantage of higher prices and/or stronger basis. For example, a producer harvests 200,000 bushels of corn in 2019, sells 100,000 bushels this year and the remainder in 2020. As most producers use the cash method of accounting and file taxes as a cash based filer, the production sold in the following year is reported as income in that year and not in the year of production. This allows for flexibility when dealing with the ups and downs of farm revenue.
Generally, crop insurance proceeds should be included in gross income in the year the payments are received, however Internal Revenue Code Section (IRC §) 451(f) provides a special provision that allows insurance proceeds to be deferred if they are received as a result of “destruction or damage to crops.”
As prevented planting insurance proceeds qualify under this definition, they can qualify for a 1 year deferral for inclusion in taxable income. These proceeds can qualify if the producer meets the following criteria:
- Taxpayer uses the cash method of accounting.
- Taxpayer receives the crop insurance proceeds in the same tax year the crops are damaged.
- Taxpayer shows that under their normal business practice they would have included income from the damaged crops in any tax year following the year the damage occurred.
The third criteria is the sometimes the problem. Most can meet the criteria, although if producers want reasonable audit protection, they should have records showing the normal practice of deferring sales of grain produced and harvested in year 1 subsequently stored and sold in the following year. To safely “show that under their normal business practice they would have included income from the damaged crops in any tax year following the year the damage occurred” the taxpayer should follow IRS Revenue Ruling 75-145 that requires that he or she would have reported more than 50 percent of the income from the damaged or destroyed crops in the year following the loss. A reasonable interpretation in meeting the 50% test is that a farmer may aggregate the historical sales for crops receiving insurance proceeds but tax practitioners differ on the interpretation of how this test may be met.
One big problem with these crop insurance proceeds is that a producer can’t divide it between years. It is either claimed in the year the damage occurred and the crop insurance proceeds were received or it is all deferred until the following year. The election to defer recognition of crop insurance proceeds that qualify is an all or nothing election for each trade or business IRS Revenue Ruling 74-145, 1971-1.
Tax planning options for producers depend a great deal on past income and future income prospects. Producers that have lower taxable income in the last 3 years (or tax brackets that weren’t completely filled) may want to consider claiming the prevented planting insurance proceeds this year and using Income Averaging to spread some of this year’s income into the prior 3 years. Producers that have had high income in the past 3 years and will experience high net income in 2019 may consider deferring these insurance proceeds to 2020 if they feel that this year may have lower farm net income.
Market Facilitation Payments
When the next round(s) of Market Facilitation Payments (MFPs) are issued, they will be treated the same as the previous rounds for income tax purposes. These payments must be taken as taxable income in the year they are received. As these payments are intended to replace income due to low prices stemming from trade disputes, these payments should be included in gross income in the year received. As these payments constitute earnings from the farmers’ trade or business they are subject to federal income tax and self-employment tax. Producers will almost certainly not have the option to defer these taxes until next year. Some producers waited until early 2019 to report production from 2018 and therefore will report this income from the first round of Market Facilitation Payments as taxable income in 2019.
Producers will likely not have the option of delaying their reporting and subsequent MFP payments due to the fact they are contingent upon planted acreage reporting of eligible crops and not yield reporting as the first round of MFP payments were.
Cost Share Payments
Increased prevented planting acres this year have many producers considering cover crops to better manage weeds and erosion and possibly qualify for a reduced MFP. There is also the possibility that producers will be eligible for cost-share payments via the Natural Resources Conservation Service for planting cover crops. Producers should be aware that these cost-share payments will be included on Form 1099-G that they will receive and the cost-share payments will need to be included as income.
You are advised to consult a tax professional for clarification of these issues as they relate to your circumstances.
This article is being reposted with the author's permission from the Ohio Ag Manager blog.
Tags: agricultural tax law, farm tax law, Tax Planning, prevented planting, market facilitation, cost-share
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The decision on whether to take prevented planting is a tough one, but don’t let concerns about increased property taxes on idle land enter into the equation. Ohio’s Current Agricultural Use Valuation program allows landowners to retain the benefit of CAUV tax assessment on agricultural land even if the land lies idle or fallow for a period of time.
Ohio’s CAUV program provides differential property tax assessment to parcels of land “devoted exclusively to agricultural use” that are ten acres or more or, if less than ten acres, generated an average gross income for the previous three years of $2,500 or more from commercial agricultural production. Timber lands adjacent to CAUV land, land enrolled in federal conservation programs, and land devoted to agritourism or bio-mass and similar types of energy production on a farm also qualify for CAUV.
There must have been some farmers in the legislature when the CAUV law was enacted, because the legislature anticipated the possibility that qualifying CAUV lands would not always be actively engaged in agricultural production. The law allows CAUV land to sit "idle or fallow" for up to one year and remain eligible for CAUV, but only if there's not an activity or use taking place on the land that's inconsistent with returning the land to agricultural production or that converts the land from agricultural production. After one year of lying idle or fallow, a landowner may retain the CAUV status for up to three years by showing good cause to the board of revision for why the land is not actively engaged in agricultural production.
The law would play out as follows. When the auditor sends the next CAUV reenrollment form for a parcel that qualifies for CAUV but was not planted this year due to the weather, a landowner must certify that the land is still devoted to agricultural production and return the CAUV form to the auditor. The auditor must allow the land to retain its CAUV status the first year of lying idle or fallow, as long as the land is not being used or converted to a non-agricultural use. If the land continues to be idle or fallow for the following year or two years, the auditor could ask the landowner to show cause as to why the land is not being used for agricultural production. The landowner would then have an opportunity to prove that the weather has prevented plans to plant field crops, as intended by the landowner. After three years, the landowner would have to change the land to a different type of commercial agricultural production to retain its CAUV status if the weather still prevents the ability to plant field crops on the parcel. Other agricultural uses could include commercial animal or poultry husbandry, aquaculture, algaculture, apiculture, the production for a commercial purpose of timber, tobacco, fruits, vegetables, nursery stock, ornamental trees, sod, or flowers, or the growth of timber for a noncommercial purpose, if the land on which the timber is grown is contiguous to or part of a parcel of land under common ownership that is otherwise devoted exclusively to agricultural use.
Being forced out of the fields due to rain is a frustrating reality for many Ohio farmers today. One positive assurance we can offer in the face of prevented planting is that farmers won't lose agricultural property tax status on those fields this year. Read Ohio’s CAUV law in the Ohio Revised Code at sections 5713.30 and 5713.31.
Tags: cauv, current agricultural use valuation, property tax, prevented planting
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Since our last legislative update in March, Ohio’s legislators and staffers have been busy introducing more legislation. As of this morning, there are 332 bills that have been introduced by members of the Ohio General Assembly since January. Some have already passed both the Ohio House and Senate, but most are still pending. While we cannot write about every pending bill, the following bills relate to agricultural, local government, or natural resource law. In addition to these bills that we have not yet covered, see the end of this post for an update about bills we mentioned in our last blog post.
Tax
- Senate Bill 183, titled “Allow tax credits to assist beginning farmers.” Many agricultural news outlets quickly picked up on this bill. The bill would authorize two nonrefundable tax credits. One is for beginning farmers who attend a financial management program, while the other is for individuals or businesses that sell or rent farmland, livestock, buildings, or equipment to beginning farmers. The Ohio Department of Agriculture would be responsible for certifying individuals as beginning farmers and for approving eligible financial management programs. Click HERE for more information about the bill, and HERE for the current official bill analysis.
- House Bill 109, titled “Grant tax exemption for land used for commercial maple syruping.” The bill would exempt “maple forest land” from having to pay property taxes. The landowner would have to apply for the designation with the Ohio Department of Taxation. Eligible lands are those lands bearing a stand of maple trees where 1) an average of at least thirty taps are drilled each year into at least fifteen different maple trees per acre of land, 2) the harvested sap is incorporated into a maple product for commercial sale, 3) the land is managed under a forest land maintenance plan, and 4) the property has ten or more acres or the sap harvest produces an average yearly gross income of more than $2,500. Note that all four requirements must be met in order to qualify as an exempt maple forest land. Click HERE for more information about the bill.
Real property
- House Bill 103, titled “Change law relating to land installment contracts.” Ohio’s Land Installment Contract Law, which applies to contracts involving properties with a residence but not contracts involving only open farmland, would see some significant changes under this proposed legislation. The bill would shift the burden of paying property taxes and homeowner’s insurance from the buyer to the seller. The seller would also be prohibited from holding a mortgage on the property. The contract would have to include provisions stating that the seller is responsible for all repairs and maintenance on the property. Interest rates would also be capped so that the rate cannot exceed the Treasury bill rate for loans of the same length of time by 2%. For example, if a 5-year land installment contract is entered into on September 7th and the 5-year Treasury bill rate on that day is 2.64%, the interest rate for the land installment contract would not be able to exceed 4.64% under this bill. Click HERE for more information about the bill, and HERE for the current official bill analysis.
Estate planning
- House Bill 209, titled “Abolish estate by dower.” Dower provides a surviving spouse with rights in any real property owned by a decedent spouse. This bill would end dower estates moving forward, but any interests that vest before the change would take effect would still be valid. Click HERE for more information about the bill.
Local government
- Senate Bill 114, titled “Expand township authority-regulate noise in unincorporated area.” A board of township trustees is currently limited to regulate noise coming from either areas zoned as residential or premises where a D liquor permit has been issued. The bill would expand the township’s authority to regulate noise anywhere within the unincorporated territory of the township. However, the bill does not affect another section of the law that exempts agriculture from noise ordinances, so agricultural activities would not be subject to any new noise ordinances, should this law pass. Click HERE for more information about the bill, and HERE for the current official bill analysis.
- Senate Bill 12, titled “Change laws governing traffic law enforcement.” Notably for townships, this bill would prohibit township law enforcement officers or representatives from using a traffic camera on an interstate highway. Click HERE for more information about the bill, and HERE for the current official bill analysis.
Regulation of Alcohol
- House Bill 181, titled “Promote use of Ohio agricultural goods in alcoholic beverages.” The bill would authorize the Ohio Department of Agriculture to create promotional logos that producers of Ohio craft beer and spirits may display on their products. Specifically, the bill would authorize an “Ohio Proud Craft Beer” and an “Ohio Proud Craft Spirits promotion. Click HERE for more information about the bill.
- House Bill 160, titled “Revised alcoholic ice cream law.” Under current Ohio law, those wishing to sell ice cream containing alcohol must obtain an A-5 liquor permit and can only sell the ice cream at the site of manufacture, and that site must be in an election precinct that allows for on- and off-premises consumption of alcohol. This bill would allow the ice cream maker to sell to consumers for off-premises enjoyment and to retailers that are authorized to sell alcohol. Click HERE for more information about the bill.
- House Bill 179, titled “Exempt small wineries from retail food establishment licensing.” The bill would exempt small wineries that produce less than 10,000 gallons of wine annually from having to obtain a retail food establishment license in order to sell commercially prepackaged foods. The sales of the prepackaged foods cannot exceed more than 5% of the winery’s gross annual receipts. The winery would have to notify the permitting authority that it is exempt, and also notify its customers about its exemption. Click HERE for more information about the bill.
Energy
- House Bill 20, titled “Prohibit homeowner associations placing limits on solar panels.” The bill would prohibit homeowners and neighborhood associations, along with civic and other associations, from imposing unreasonable restrictions on the installation of solar collector systems on roofs or exterior walls under the ownership or exclusive use of a property owner. Condominium properties would similar be prohibited from imposing unreasonable restrictions where there are no competing uses for the roof or wall space where a solar collector system would be located. According to the bill analysis, an unreasonable limitation is one that significantly increases the cost or significantly decreases the efficiency of a solar collector system. Individual unit owners would also have the right to negotiate a solar access easement. Click HERE or more information about the bill, and HERE for the current official bill analysis.
- Senate Bill 119, titled “Exempt Ohio from daylight savings time.” The bill would require Ohio to observe Daylight Savings Time on a permanent basis effective March 8, 2020. The state’s clocks would spring forward in March, but there would be no falling back in the fall. Click HERE for more information about the bill, and HERE for the current official bill analysis.
As for the bills that we previously covered in our March legislative update, the following chart explains where those bills stand. Those that have passed at least one chamber have their passage status underlined in the column on the right. Those that have had at least one committee hearing list the number of hearings, while those that have not had any activity in committee state only the committee that the bill has been referred to from the floor.
|
Category |
Bill No. |
Bill Title |
Status |
|
Hemp |
SB 57 |
Decriminalize hemp and license hemp cultivation |
- Passed Senate - Completed first committee hearing in House |
|
Watershed Planning |
SB 2 |
Create state watershed planning structure |
- Referred to Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee |
|
Animals |
HB 24 |
Revise humane society law |
- Completed third committee hearing in House |
|
Animals |
HB 124 |
Allow small livestock on residential property |
- Referred to House Agriculture and Rural Development Committee |
|
Oil and Gas |
HB 55 |
Require oil and gas royalty statements |
- Completed first committee hearing in House |
|
Oil and Gas |
HB 94 |
Ban taking oil or natural gas from bed of Lake Erie |
- Referred to House Energy and Natural Resources Committee |
|
Oil and Gas |
HB 95 |
Revise oil and gas law about brine and well conversions |
- Referred to House Energy and Natural Resources Committee |
|
Mineral Rights |
HB 100 |
Revise requirements governing abandoned mineral rights |
- Referred to House Energy and Natural Resources Committee |
|
Regulations |
SB 1 |
Reduce number of regulatory restrictions |
- Completed three committee hearings in Senate |
|
Business Law |
SB 21 |
Allow corporation to become benefit corporation |
- Passed Senate - Completed first hearings in two separate House committees |
|
Animals |
SB 33 |
Establish animal abuse reporting requirements |
- Completed fifth committee hearing in Senate |
|
Local Gov’t |
HB 48 |
Create local government road improvement fund |
- Referred to House Finance Committee |
|
Local Gov’t |
HB 54 |
Increase tax revenue allocated to the local government fund |
- Referred to House Ways and Means Committee |
|
Property |
HB 74 |
Prohibit leaving junk watercraft or motor uncovered on property |
- Completed first committee hearing in House |
Tags: Ohio 133rd General Assembly, hemp, industrial hemp, animal welfare, oil and gas law, mineral rights, regulatory reform, corporations, benefit corporations, local government funding
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Last month a lawsuit about Ohio’s Current Agricultural Use Value (CAUV) calculation showed back up on our radar. As we explain in another blog post, the state of Ohio uses CAUV to calculate how much tax owners of land devoted exclusively to an agricultural use must pay. The plaintiffs sought reimbursements from the state by arguing that the state failed to properly calculate CAUV in accordance with Ohio law. The case was dismissed by the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, and the 10th District Court of Appeals affirmed that decision as appropriate. However, that does not necessarily spell the end for these plaintiffs.
What started the lawsuit: good times meant higher taxes
Many farmland owners likely remember what happened around the middle of this decade to property tax assessments under Ohio’s CAUV formula as it was calculated at that time. In part because Ohio’s CAUV assessment formula takes agricultural commodity prices into account, a couple of strong years for crop prices contributed to a drastic and generally unanticipated increase in property tax bills for farmers across the state. Those assessment increases led to a successful effort to change the CAUV formula so that drastic fluctuations would be less likely to occur moving forward. However, some property owners wanted a reimbursement for previous assessments, not just a new formula.
What the plaintiffs wanted: equitable restitution
The case began on June 26, 2015, when three parties filed a complaint in a county court of common pleas against the state tax commissioner. The three plaintiffs sought a class action certification to act on behalf of all owners of Ohio lands devoted to agricultural production. The complaint alleged that the state of Ohio illegally collected more than a billion dollars of property taxes from those owners. Therefore, the landowners first sought repayment under the legal doctrine of unjust enrichment.
Over the next few months, the plaintiffs amended their complaint twice. The first amended complaint added a claim for repayment under the doctrine of equitable restitution. It also added more named plaintiffs, added then-Governor Kasich as a defendant, and asked for compensatory damages. The second amended complaint removed the Governor and tax commissioner as defendants, added the state of Ohio as a defendant, and removed all claims except for equitable restitution and a declaratory judgment. Lots of adjustments, but what is equitable restitution?
Equitable restitution is a type of recovery under the law that says one party has improperly benefitted at the expense of another, and therefore should return the benefit to its rightful owner. Here, the plaintiffs argued that allegedly illegal CAUV collections meant that the state of Ohio had improperly benefitted at the expense of owners of CAUV lands. Therefore, the state of Ohio should have to return that benefit, which would mean a return of the property tax overpayments.
However, there are two types of restitution under the law: legal and equitable. Legal restitution is available when a plaintiff cannot assert a right of possession to a particular property but is nonetheless able to shows grounds for compensation from the defendant. When money is involved, the distinction is largely based upon whether money clearly identifiable as belonging to the plaintiff can be traced to particular funds in the defendant’s possession. If the money can be traced to particular funds, then equitable restitution is more likely to apply.
For example, say that a plaintiff gave a defendant a five dollar bill, but something goes wrong and the plaintiff wants her money back. The plaintiff may have an equitable remedy if she seeks the return of that specific five dollar bill. However, she may only have a legal remedy if she simply wants five dollars back. This distinction played an important role in the outcome of this case.
Why the case was dismissed: lack of jurisdiction
The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed because the common pleas court determined that it could not hear the case because of the nature of the remedy sought. Instead, in ruling on the state’s motion to dismiss, the common pleas court decided, and the appellate court affirmed, that only the Ohio Court of Claims has jurisdiction for this type of case.
The Ohio Court of Claims is a special kind of state court that exists primarily to handle lawsuits against the state of Ohio. Its existence stems from the idea in the U.S. Constitution’s Eleventh Amendment that states have immunity as sovereigns. States may choose if and when to be sued; however, most have waived that immunity to some extent. Ohio chose to partially waive its sovereign immunity in particular types of cases by allowing people to sue it in a special court instead of in a county court of common pleas.
When it created the Ohio Court of Claims, the Ohio General Assembly decided that people seeking relief at law must file their lawsuit with the Ohio Court of Claims, while those seeking equitable relief may file their lawsuit with a county court of common pleas.
Restitution happens to be a type of remedy that can be classified as either legal or equitable in nature. The focus is not on what the parties call the restitution they seek, but what they actually want from it. In this case, it was not enough that the plaintiffs called what they wanted “equitable restitution.” The court only cared about what the plaintiffs actually sought.
In looking at the facts, the court determined that the plaintiffs sought the return of funds that could not be traceable into any state account, and therefore the remedy sought was legal in nature. The court explained that Ohio’s property taxes are collected and held at the county level, and there was no evidence that the CAUV property tax collected by the counties ever made it to the state. Absent this transfer, the specific tax dollars that the plaintiffs allege were wrongfully paid to the state were not traceable to any state accounts. Without this traceable link, the plaintiffs could only seek a return of money in general, rather than the return of specific funds. Because of this, only the Ohio Court of Claims could hear this case and award this remedy.
It was on the basis of this distinction that the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas dismissed the case, and that the Tenth District Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal.
What are the plaintiffs’ next steps: Ohio Court of Claims or the end?
The trial court dismissed the case “without prejudice,” meaning that the parties are not barred from filing the case again in a proper court. This can be common when the case is dismissed on a procedural basis where there could be a claim with some merit that has neither been decided on the merits nor settled. At this time, it does not appear that the plaintiffs have refiled the case in the Ohio Court of Claims, and we cannot predict whether or not they will do so.
The case is cited as Vance v. State, 2019-Ohio-1027 (10th Dist.), and the opinion is available on the Ohio Supreme Court’s website HERE.
Tags: cauv, current agricultural use valuation, Current Agricultural Use Value, Ohio ag law, Ohio case law
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When we are not on the road presenting, in the classroom teaching, or keeping up with the news for the blog, our team is busy working on large scale research projects for the Agricultural & Food Law Consortium. One of our recent projects looked at how states assess farmland for property tax purposes, and we then created a compilation of every state’s laws on this topic. Based upon the research, we found that property taxes are a fact of life for virtually all landowners in the United States, but that each state uses a “differential tax assessment” for agricultural lands.
What exactly is a differential tax assessment? Many Ohio farmers know about and use Ohio’s special property tax assessment known as CAUV, which is short for Current Agricultural Use Valuation. Instead of assessing property taxes on the basis of the market rate for developable land, CAUV uses a different formula that assesses the land on its value for agricultural production. CAUV is a form of differential tax assessment.
While each state utilizes differential tax assessments for agricultural lands, they use different definitions of agriculture, different formulas, and different application processes. Some areas of law utilize model acts that states may adopt in order to make it easier to do business across state lines. Differential tax assessments of agricultural land do not have a model act, so each state’s language reflects the culture, norms, and conditions of the respective state at the time the state adopted or amended its differential tax assessment.
An example close to home illustrates what this means. Under Ohio Revised Code § 5713.30(A), agricultural use means commercial animal or poultry husbandry, aquaculture, algaculture, apiculture, the commercial production of field crops, tobacco, fruits, vegetables, nursery stock, ornamental trees, and sod. Commercial timber qualifies, but non-commercial timber only qualifies if it located on or next to land that otherwise would qualify for CAUV. Exclusive use requires just that: the land is exclusively used for an activity listed as an agricultural use. Lands of more than 10 acres that are exclusively devoted to agricultural uses qualify, but lands of less than 10 acres only qualify if the average yearly gross income exceeds $2,500 over the preceding three years. That is an example of a definition of what qualifies as agriculture for the purposes of the differential tax assessment.
The differential tax assessment project compiled the approaches taken by all fifty states, and the compilations are available on the National Agricultural Law Center website HERE. This material is based upon work supported by the National Agricultural Library, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Tags: differential tax assessment, cauv, property tax, real property tax, real property law
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The holiday season stands out as one of the most generous times of year as people give gifts to the people they love. What better way to get into the holiday spirit than to talk about the tax implications of your gifts? There are three shopping weekends left until December 25th, so here are three highlights about the federal gift tax that you should know:
1. The federal gift tax is assessed on the person who gives the gift, not the person who receives the gift.
An individual who gives a gift of cash or assets with a fair market value greater than $15,000 to any one person in a given year will have to report the gift(s) using IRS Form 709 when filing taxes for that year. These forms cannot be filed jointly, so if a married couple gives a gift that is worth more than $30,000 to any one person, both of them must file IRS Form 709 and report half of the value of the gift.
Form 709 requires a few pieces of information about the gift and who receives the gift. It asks for things like a description of the gift, the recipient’s name and address, when it was given, and its value. While documentation or receipts do not have to be submitted with Form 709, filers should keep records for themselves about the gift in case the IRS has questions.
The gift tax rates for 2018 range from 18 to 40 percent. The rates depend upon how much in excess of the $15,000 exclusion the gift is valued. For instance, a gift valued at $20,000 would have no taxes on the first $15,000, but the $5,000 over the $15,000 threshold would be subject to an 18 percent tax. The 40 percent rate applies to gifts valued at $1,015,000, or $1,000,000 over the $15,000 exclusion.
Fortunately for the recipient, the gift does not count as income to the recipient because the gift falls under the gift tax rules instead of the income tax rules.
2. Each individual may give up to $15,000 in gifts to any person per year free of federal gift taxes. Because this rule focuses on the individual giver, a married couple could give up to a combined $30,000 in gifts to any one person tax free.
To illustrate, if Bob and Betty Buckeye have a daughter, Bernice, both Bob and Betty can give Bernice $15,000 worth of gifts in 2018, for a total of $30,000, without having to pay taxes on the gift. If Bernice is married to Brutus, then Bob and Betty could also give a combined $30,000 gift to Brutus; however, that money is Brutus’s. The gift to Brutus cannot be used to hide a gift to Bernice.
Importantly, some gifts are excluded from the gift tax and do not count toward the $15,000 exclusion threshold. These include gifts to a spouse, gifts of tuition paid directly to the college or institution, gifts of medical expenses, gifts to certain exempt organizations like charities, and gifts to certain political organizations.
However, things like forgiving a debt, contributing to a 529 education plan, making an interest-free or below market rate loan, transferring the benefits of an insurance policy, or giving up an annuity in exchange for the creation of a survivor annuity do count as gifts. When these gifts exceed the $15,000 exclusion threshold, they are taxable.
The $15,000 threshold is new for 2018. In 2017, it was only $14,000. The IRS now revises the amount based upon inflation, but is expected only to do so periodically in $1,000 increments.
3. Under the new tax plan passed by Congress and signed by the President in 2017, the higher estate tax threshold has made gift giving less urgent as a tax planning strategy.
Many individuals used the gift exemption as a way to provide for the next generation while also lessening the risk or burden of federal estate taxes. However, the 2017 tax reform doubled the value of an individual estate that is exempt from the estate tax to $11,180,000. A couple may take advantage of that individual exemption, and, with proper planning, shield $22.4 million in assets from the federal estate tax. Unless an estate is likely to reach the applicable threshold, gifts may not be as important of an estate planning tool solely to avoid estate tax consequences.
Long-term planners may want to keep in mind that the new estate tax exemption is set to expire at the end of 2025. If the $11,180,000 exemption is not extended by the end of 2025, the law will revert back to what it was before the 2017 tax reform, thereby returning the estate tax exemption threshold to around $5.5 million.
Disclaimer: While the estate tax changes may have made gifts less relevant as an estate planning tool for some, this certainly does not mean that gifts should be cancelled this year. The OSU Extension Farm Office cannot take responsibility for that. It only means that more families can focus on giving for love, rather than taxes.
For more information on federal gift taxes, contact an accountant or attorney, or visit the Internal Revenue Service’s “Frequently Asked Questions on Gift Taxes” here. For more general information about how taxes affect agriculture, visit the OSU Extension Farm Office Tax Law Library here.
A landowner may present evidence regarding the value and acreage of his or her land, but the Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) is free to weigh that evidence as it wishes, according to the Ohio Supreme Court. All seven justices agreed that the BTA in the case of Johnson v. Clark County Board of Revision acted with appropriate discretion, although two justices did not sign onto the reasoning as to why the BTA acted appropriately. The case involved a property owner’s challenge of the Clark County Auditor’s determination of Current Agricultural Use Valuation (CAUV) for property tax purposes.
Continue reading for more information about what CAUV is, how CAUV determinations and tax assessments can be appealed, what happened in the Johnson v. Clark County Board of Revision case, and the main takeaways from the Supreme Court’s decision.
What is CAUV?
CAUV permits owners of land devoted exclusively to agricultural uses to request that the county auditor assess property for tax purposes based upon the value of the land’s current agricultural use, rather than its true market value. Since its inception, CAUV has generally provided landowners with qualifying property a lower tax bill than they otherwise would have using market value. Ohio most recently changed the formula for CAUV in 2017. If CAUV land is converted to a use that no longer qualifies for CAUV treatment, the land is again assessed based upon its fair market value and the landowner must pay to the county the difference between the CAUV value and the fair market value for the prior three years. To learn more about CAUV, visit the Ohio Department of Taxation’s CAUV webpage here.
How can a CAUV determination be appealed?
First, if a landowner believes that all or part of his or her parcel qualifies for CAUV, an application must be submitted to the county auditor where the land is located. County auditors are the “chief assessing officers of their respective counties” and have the authority, within the guidelines of the state tax commissioner, to make the initial CAUV determination under Ohio Revised Code § 5715.01(B). Landowners should contact their county auditors about filing instructions.
Second, the procedure to appeal whether land qualifies for CAUV is different than the procedure to appeal a tax valuation assessment. If a landowner does not agree with their county auditor’s determination as to whether or not land qualifies for CAUV, they have thirty days to file an appeal with their county court of common pleas under Ohio Revised Code § 929.02(A)(2). Decisions of courts of common pleas can be appealed to the state district court of appeals, and those decisions can be appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court.
If a landowner does not agree with their county auditor’s valuation assessment, the landowner may file a complaint with their county Board of Revision. The forms for these complaints are generally available at the county auditor’s office or website. If a Board of Revision believes that the county auditor made an error in applying the CAUV statute and rules, the board has the authority to revise tax assessments. If the landowner still does not agree with the Board of Revision’s decision, he or she may appeal to the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals within thirty days of the Board of Revision’s decision under Ohio Revised Code § 5717.01. More information is available on the BTA’s website here. Alternatively, under Ohio Revised Code § 5717.05, the landowner may appeal the Board of Revision’s decision to the appropriate county court of common pleas.
Decisions of the BTA can be appealed to the respective state district court of appeals where the land in question is located, and those decisions can be appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. However, there are certain cases in which landowners can appeal decisions of the BTA directly to the Ohio Supreme Court under Ohio Revised Code § 5717.04. However, the types of appeals of a BTA decision eligible for direct appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court were reduced in September 2017 through House Bill 49.
What happened in Johnson v. Clark County Board of Revision?
Mr. Johnson challenged the Clark County Auditor’s 2013 tax assessment of his 154.61 acre farm. Neither party disagreed that the land qualified for CAUV, but Mr. Johnson disagreed with how much the Clark County Auditor said the farm was worth under the CAUV formula. For tax year 2013, the auditor assessed the property’s CAUV at $457,250.
Mr. Johnson appealed to the Clark County Board of Revision. He testified, and also elicited testimony from an employee of the Clark County Soil and Water Conservation District and an employee of the Clark County Auditor’s office. Further, Mr. Johnson presented photographs, official records from the tax commissioner and auditor, and a “self-prepared written statement purporting to convey [the SWCD employee’s] site-visit findings.” The Board of Revision rejected Mr. Johnson’s claims.
Mr. Johnson then appealed to the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals. Again, Mr. Johnson testified and produced a number of exhibits. At this appeal, he elicited testimony from an employee of the Ohio Department of Taxation. The BTA also rejected Mr. Johnson’s claims, finding that the Clark County Auditor had acted appropriately. Mr. Johnson then filed an appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court in 2016. Mr. Johnson represented himself pro se, or without an attorney.
What are the main takeaways, and why did the landowner not succeed?
First, the Ohio Supreme Court explained that a landowner challenging a Board of Revision or Auditor’s tax assessment must convince the BTA that his or her valuation assessment is correct and the one they are challenging is incorrect. This requirement to convince the Board of Tax Appeals is known as the burden of proof. The burden of proof determines which party must play an active role in proving his or her argument, while the opposing side will only have to present proof to counter if the board finds that the first party has carried its burden. Here, the court said that Mr. Johnson, as the landowner challenging the assessment, had the burden to convince the BTA. The court disagreed with Mr. Johnson’s argument that the county should have to rebut his evidence and prove the value that it assessed.
Second, even though the BTA properly said that Mr. Johnson had the burden of proof, this does not mean that the BTA should have presumed the Board of Revision’s decision to have been correct. Instead, the BTA must independently analyze the evidence presented to it, and not simply defer to and accept the Board of Revision’s decision. Here, the Ohio Supreme Court found that the BTA did conduct an independent assessment in confirming the Board of Revision’s determination.
Third, while an owner may present evidence as to the value of his or her land, a BTA has discretion to determine how much weight to give to that evidence. An owner’s opinion as to the value of his or her land is not determinative, but is merely a piece of evidence that the BTA may consider.
Fourth, instead of looking at the acreage, the focus of the assessment should be on boundaries and a property’s uses within those boundaries. The Ohio Supreme Court explained the distinction between calculating acres and delineating boundaries by using dictionary definitions, and the distinction is essentially that a bounded area is fixed in space, while acreage alone describes an area without a specific line of demarcation. To prove that a parcel or portion of a parcel qualify for CAUV treatment, the boundaries of the qualifying land must be determined. Acres can only be determined after the boundaries are established. Here, Mr. Johnson did not prove the boundaries of CAUV areas on his land to the BTA’s satisfaction, and the Ohio Supreme Court said that it was within the BTA’s discretion to reject Mr. Johnson’s evidence.
The Ohio Supreme Court’s full opinion, cited as 2018-Ohio-4390, is available here. Additional facts about the case can be found within the court’s opinion.
Decisions announced today by the Ohio Supreme Court will allow landowners to challenge Current Agricultural Use Valuation (CAUV) land values established by Ohio’s tax commissioner by appealing the values to the Board of Tax Appeals.
Twin rulings in cases filed by a group of owners of woodland enrolled in CAUV, Adams v. Testa, clarify that when the tax commissioner develops tables that propose CAUV values for different types of farmland, holds a public hearing on the values and adopts the final values by journal entry, the tax commissioner’s actions constitute a “final determination” that a landowner may immediately appeal to the Board of Tax Appeals. The Board of Tax Appeals had argued that the adoption of values is not a final determination and therefore is not one that a landowner may appeal to the Board.
The tax commissioner forwards the CAUV tables to the county auditors, who must use the values for a three year period. An inability to appeal the values when established by the tax commissioner would mean that a landowner must wait until individual CAUV tax values are calculated by the county auditor, who relies upon the tax commissioner’s values to calculate the county values. As a result of today’s decision, landowners may appeal the values as soon as the tax commissioner releases them.
The landowners also claimed that the process and rules for establishing the CAUV values are unreasonable and not legal. However, the Court rejected those claims.
For an excellent summary of the Adams v. Testa cases by Court News Ohio, follow this link.
Tags: current agricultural use valuation, cauv, tax, property tax, woodland tax
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Written by Chris Hogan, Law Fellow, OSU Agricultural & Resource Law Program
Governor Kasich signed HB 49 on June 30, 2017, otherwise known as Ohio’s Operating Budget. In addition to setting the budget for various agencies, HB 49 changes how farmland is valued under Ohio’s Current Agricultural Use Value program. HB 49 changes Ohio Revised Code Sec. 5715.01. The overall effect of the changes will likely be a downward trend in property tax valuation for Ohio farmers.
The budget bill prescribes the method for determining CAUV value for land devoted to agricultural use. The law requires appraisal methods to reflect and consider the following:
- standard and modern appraisal techniques that take into consideration the productivity of the soil under normal management practices;
- typical cropping and land use patterns;
- the average price patterns of the crops and products produced;
- typical production costs to determine the net income potential to be capitalized; and
- other pertinent factors.
Under HB 49, the Tax Commissioner must annually determine and announce the capitalization rate used to compute CAUV values. The bill directs the Tax Commissioner to use standard and modern appraisal techniques in determining the land capitalization rate to be applied to the net income potential from agricultural use. In determining this yearly rate, the Commissioner must use an equity yield rate equal to the greater of the average of the total rates of return on farm equity for the last 25 years (as published by USDA), or the loan interest rate the Commissioner uses for that year to calculate the capitalization rate. The Tax Commissioner is required to assume that the holding period for agricultural land is twenty-five years for computing buildup of equity or appreciation with respect to that land.
HB 49 requires that land used in conservation programs be valued at the lowest soil productivity type. However, if land devoted to a conservation program ceases to be used for conservation purposes within three years of certification, the land will be valued at its actual soil type for all preceding years.
The Tax Commissioner must publish an annual report of CAUV values that can be sorted by county and by school district. The changes to CAUV begin in 2017, starting with counties undergoing reappraisal for the 2017 tax year. The budget bill, as signed by the Governor, is here—see page 2145 of that document for the changes to CAUV.
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