Is being a farm defined by state law or federal law ? Does being a farm relate to what percent of your surface land is covered, or does it relate to the absolute dollars of produce grown ? What are the primary tax and "subsidy" benefits of having a small farm ?
2007-10-03 19:25:25 · 5 answers · asked by cityquestioner 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
The building and the land under the building would not be farm assets. You could not depreciate the building as a farm asset as the purpose of the building is as an apartment building. It would be depreciated as residential real estate on Schedule E. The income and expenses from the rental activity would go on Schedule E.
If you sell the produce that you grow on the roof, you could report it on Schedule F rather than Schedule C, since the lines in F would be more descriptive for you. You would subtract your costs only for growing the produce, separating it from the costs of operating the apartment building.
Unless you could show a profit from selling the produce, which is unlikely, you would treat the activity as a hobby. Report sales on Line 21 of Form 1040, subtract expenses on Schedule A as miscellaneous deductions subject to 2% of your AGI.
But if you were planning on growing plants on the roof and treating the entire building as a farm, that would not be possible.
2007-10-04 02:18:23 · answer #1 · answered by ninasgramma 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do you own the apartment building? If not, you probably need to have a contract with the owner. Who pays for the water? I imagine if you are selling the produce, that someone wants to collect tax from you. Do you have a business license? How big is the damn roof anyway? Is there adequate structural support to keep the weight of the soil, water, plants and equipment from caving in the roof into the apartments below?
2007-10-03 19:44:49 · answer #2 · answered by roscoedeadbeat 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Never. The land is zoned as multi-family residential, not agricultural. Zoning is strictly a local issue so it's neither Federal nor State.
2007-10-04 01:28:48 · answer #3 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If you don't sell the crops to the public (i.e. grocery store) , you don't get any benefits. The IRS has farming as a small business.
2007-10-03 19:36:33 · answer #4 · answered by bomsaway2 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
when you have chickens, goats, cows running around
2007-10-03 19:32:26 · answer #5 · answered by teomabanta 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋