Farm Estate and Business Planning (FEST)

This seminar is designed to provide attendees with a comprehensive and practical understanding of major farm estate and business planning issues.  It is an excellent opportunity for tax practitioners, attorneys and agribusiness professionals to update their knowledge of tax, business and legal matters related to agriculture and farm business activities.

• Recent Developments in Agricultural Estate and Business Planning: This section covers the key court rulings and developments from the Treasury and IRS impacting decedents' estates and trusts and the succession of farm or ranch businesses. In addition, the transfer tax changes made by the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" will be discussed and their impact on estate/business planning for clients explained.

• Tax Planning Strategies for the Retiring Farmer: The retiring farmer presents numerous tax challenges for the tax practitioner. Among the issues addressed will be rate bracket planning; the use of the charitable trust; timing of crop sales; equipment sales and appraisals; gifts of commodities to charities and non-charities; and farm income averaging.

• Farm Program Payment Eligibility Planning: This session examines the provisions of the federal farm program rules and regulations that have an impact on tax and entity planning for farmers participating in federal farm programs. The discussion includes how to structure the farming operation to maximize farm program payments and various Farm Service Agency administrative issues.

•  Farm C Corporations – Income Tax Planning Issues and Opportunities: The "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" ushered in a new, lower C corporate tax rate of 21 percent. Under what circumstances does it make sense to switch a client's non-C corporate business to a C corporation? What are the related issues in making such a switch? What are the C corporate issues that are unique to agricultural businesses? How can a C corporation be formed tax-free? What are the drawbacks to converting to a C corporation? What about converting an existing C corporation to a pass-through entity to utilize the qualified business income deduction?What will the impact of the built-in gain tax be? This session addresses these questions and more.

• Farm Business Ownership Transition Strategies:What are the options for ag clients when it comes to transitioning the farming/ranching business to the next generation? What factors do those options depend upon? This session will provide some thought-provoking options based on scenarios and will examine the tax and non-tax considerations behind the choices.

• Long-Term Care Planning Strategies: This session covers the key concepts involved in long-term care planning. Addressed will be Medicare, strategies for the private payment of long-term care expenses, private long-term care insurance, Medicaid planning concepts and asset transfer rules, and the use of trusts as part of long-term care planning.

• Special Use Valuation and Installment Payment of Federal Estate Tax: For agricultural estates, special use valuation is a technique that can be utilized to minimize the impact of any federal estate tax that might apply. However, the qualification rules are complex and detailed. This session will go through the rules, how to plan an estate to avoid them and client communication pre-death and with the qualified heirs post-death. Also, addressed will be the rules surrounding the use of the installment payment provisions of I.R.C. §6166. When would it be useful to make the I.R.C. §6166 election. What events trigger recapture under both the special use provision and the installment payment provision? These topics and more will be covered in this session.

•  Trust and Estate Taxation: A key aspect of estate planning is the associated income tax issues associated with trusts and estates. This session covers how an estate and trust is taxed; the different types of trusts a practitioner must deal with; handling specific assets post-death; calculating the income tax liability for an estate; the excess deduction rule; handling the decedent's residence post-death, and other issues.

Designed For: Practitioners representing farmers and ranchers
Level: Update
Instructor/Developer: Roger McEowen
Area of Study: 8 Taxes (Technical)