Legal garbage

[Maple Hugger]

I have a few questions for those of you with your own sugaring business.

1) I was told that tapping my land would mean I could declare the land as "agricultural" which would give me a tax break on property taxes. Is that meant just for bigger businesses? I suppose I'd then have to let Obamarama know how much money I'm making from selling syrup and that would be taxable income? Just wondering how that works. Is it worth it?

2) Here is one really broad question that I realize nobody can answer in a simple paragraph: How do we make our little operation into an official business? Is there a good online resource that can hold my hand through the process?

3) I was trying to research this topic online this morning and found myself reading the definitions of different types of businesses. I learned that the owners of a sole proprietership/partnership could be sued personally. The owners would not be considered separate from their business. Sounds scary. You have all kinds of yahoos out there who are always looking for someone to sue. Maybe I'm too paranoid? For those of you who own small to mid-sized syrup businesses, what category did you put your business in?

4) The government seems to be giving out a lot of money at the moment. Any luck they might be giving out money to people looking to upgrade to a bigger evaporator/grow their new business? Or something like a Cash for Clunkers program? The could call it "Bucks for the 'Bush".

Sincerely,
Angela

[markcasper]

Angela,

You are correct that tapping maple trees will qualify the property as "agricultural" under Wisconsin's use value acessment.

As far as getting tax deductions......if you can prove $1000 of income from a farm, you would be eligible to file a farm tax sheet, where you could then deduct your expenses. I would suggest a good CPA/tax man, let them do the work and certainly is worth their fee.

I have heard of government grants for more efficient equipment, namely energy conservation equipment.

In my opinion it is alot of red tape and more unnecessary intrusion into your life! You have to jump through alot of hoops and not many are accepted.

As far as the "free" money you mention coming from the government........all the bailouts, stimulus, dollars for dishwashers, extended unemployment, the list goes on. It will all be coming home to roost very soon as all of this money was printed out of thin air, and you and we all are on the hook for it! it will be coming in the form of hyperinflation, i.e. Will take a wheelbarrow of money to buy a loaf of bread.

(H.R. 1207) AUDIT THE FEDERAL RESERVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[petersp22]

Talk to your local Wisconsin DNR forester about the Managed Forest Law program which can provide property tax benefits when you have a forest management plan for your land. I think it takes at least ten acres to get into the program and you will pay around $2 per acre per year for property taxes and a portion of your receipts when trees are harvested. I'm told that a management plan to improve a sugarbush is acceptable.

http://dnr.wi.gov/forestry/feeds/faqsFull.asp?s1=ForestTax&s2=MFL-Enrollment&inc=ftax

[Dave Y]

Angela,
I dont live in the land of the cheese heads ,but I will tell you what I did here in Pa. to be come an official business. I hung out a sign that said Yeanys Maple Syrup. Then I reported my income and losses on my taxes. i am inspected by the Dept of Ag each year. I have a banking account In the name of my business. As long as you have your own name in your business name you do not need to register a fictious name or a DBA. If you would like to find out more about DBA's type DBA into your shearch engine and you will get more info than you need. I would also call a CPA and ask them what is needed in your state. remember no matter what you do try to keep it simple.
Hope this helps.

[Maple Hugger]

This is all incredibly helpful. Ideally, I'd just be spending all my time in the woods and not worrying about taxes or legal red tape. But I wouldn't want anything to bite me in the butt later. I should have taken some business classes in college.

To complicate things, part of our bush is in Wisconsin and part is in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. I suppose I have twice as much to research now.

If anyone else has any other advice, I'm all ears. Otherwise this gives me an excellent start.

Have a great day everyone! It's supposed to snow this week in Wisconsin. The sooner it starts snowing, the sooner I'll know Spring is around the corner. I can't wait!

[Haynes Forest Products]

Maple Hugger How close to Charlie Wagner are you. Are you a member of the witness protection program. I hear alot of them went into sugaring in Wisc.

[Fred Henderson]

The less the gov knows about what we do in the woods the better off we are.Soon we will be taxed if we take a leak out there, and double if it is with 10 ft of a maple.

[3rdgen.maple]

Why do you want to go down the tax road. In NY we are able to sell syrup out of our houses without a license and we are still able to sell bulk. When I have sold bulk I have yet for anybody to ask me for a tax id number or ss number to get a 1099form sent by the buyer to file with taxes. I have read our ag laws many many times and nowhere does it say we need a business license to sell syrup.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I Think with the possability of more intrusion into who, what and whare we do the things we do we all want less goverment rules and regulations BUT its going to happen regardless of what we (small hobbie producers do).

With that said I think its beneficial for small producers to get their ducks in a row because sooner or later the regs will change and if you are on the list of licensed sugar shacks you might be the first contacted but I believe there will be the Grandfather clause to deal with. Its like a hunting license Im 59 and need to get a hunter safty card because I didnt have hunting licenses befoere it went into effect.

If you think its bad for the little guy Just wait till you pull up to your Wholesale/supplier and it looks like Fort Knox remember the power Homeland Security will have over them. Im not preaching anti goverment ideas here Im just saying things will change like it or not. The sooner you come into complience with the rules and upgrades the easer it will be to stay in the game. I sometimes sit around and look at all the things I do now verses how I started and its because I was constantly upgrading to keep up with the new rules, ideas and equipment changes. I dont think I could ever just jump into it full throttle the way it is now.

One last thing about a year ago I was hauling 10,000 LBS of cement in my dump trailer and the axels and tires looked like a VW bug. The State Trooper came up with about 10 violations most on my truck BECAUSE the instant I hooked the trailer with my name on it TOO the truck it became a Commercial vehicle. Needed fire ext, cones, triangles. DOT numbers, name, address, truck plates....YIKES! It will all change before your eyes so keep up:)

[Brad W Wi]

Angela,
Check with the wisconsin maple syrup prod. assoc. They have a web site and you can call one of the officers and they might be able to help. The trouble is the more the gov't gets involved the more complicated it gets. Try to keep it simple and good luck.

[Fred Henderson]

Why do you want to go down the tax road. In NY we are able to sell syrup out of our houses without a license and we are still able to sell bulk. When I have sold bulk I have yet for anybody to ask me for a tax id number or ss number to get a 1099form sent by the buyer to file with taxes. I have read our ag laws many many times and nowhere does it say we need a business license to sell syrup.

In NY if you get over 50% of your income from syrup sales then you can have a tax number. Me I just pay the tax and the gov is none the wiser,as of yet.