Tax on farmland sale

[answersplease?]

Registered: Oct 2001
Location: south dakota, usa
Farm Real Estate
My mother has been widowed for 25 years, owns (through my deceased father who had no will...she paid the rest of the payments after his death) approximately 200 acres of farmland at three nearby locations; one site on which she lives with my brother, who has been sharecrop renting from her since my dad passed away. Mom is 72 years old, and has been living social security paycheck to paycheck since she's been old enough. The last years prior to that were very lean because of low crop prices, etc. Due to health reasons, my brother is unable to continue farming, and my mother has decided to sell her farmable land, but not the small acreage she and my brother live on. She has not had to pay income tax for the last several years because she has not made enough income. What will her tax burdens be if she sells her land, other than the house she lives in and a few broken down farm buildings? We have always heard that there is a once in a lifetime exemption you can claim for tax purposes. Is this true? If it is true, does she have to sell her land all to one buyer, or can there be more than one buyer, but sold in the same year? How does the exemption work, if there is such a thing?

 

[loku]

The “once in a lifetime exemption” you mention has been abolished. It related to the sale of a person’s main residence. Now there is an exclusion of up to $250,000 is gain from the sale of a person’s main residence. However, from what you say, the land to be sold is farmland and not part of the residence. In that case, there is no exemption and your mother would have to pay capital gains tax on the entire gain from the sale.

If you want details on how the sale would be treated for income tax purposes, download for free IRS Publication 225, Farmer’s Tax Guide. It has a section of the sale of farm property and farmland and buildings. (When reading the Publication, remember that land and buildings are Section 1250 Property, which is taxed at capital gains rates. ).