increase font size
Federated Farmers president Bruce Wills is urging all farmers in areas declared official drought zones to talk to their accountants following today's announcement that Inland Revenue will exercise its income equalisation discretions to help affected famers meet their tax obligations.
Drought was declared in Northland on Wednesday and is likely to be declared in much of the upper North Island over the next few days.
"This measure has been announced by Inland Revenue for Northland farmers, but I urge all farmers in official drought areas to talk to their accountants about this," Wills says.
"Just because we are having a hard time does not mean we can avoid tax, but if we address this now, farmers in a tight spot now may be able to defer deposits for a couple of months when they will hopefully be in a better cash-flow situation.
"Having this scheme available can be a good tool for farmers, particularly at this time of volatile market prices for primary produce.
"My advice is to go to ird.govt.nz and have a look, then talk it over with your accountant," Wills says.
The Farmers' Income Equalisation scheme provides a mechanism by which farmers can smooth the level of their taxable income. The smoothing is achieved by the fact that deposits into the scheme are tax deductible while refunds from the scheme are taxable.
Eligible taxpayers can deposit money into the schemes in years in which their taxable incomes and marginal tax rates are high and withdraw it in years in which their incomes and marginal tax rates are lower.
According to the latest Federated Farmers banking survey, farmers are more satisfied with their bank and less under pressure, however, the sector is well short of confidence levels seen last decade.
OPINION: Federated Farmers has launched a new campaign, swapping ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ for ‘The Twelve Pests of Christmas’ to highlight the most troublesome farm pests – a serious issue that needs some urgent attention from the Beehive.
Fears of a serious early drought in Hawke’s Bay have been allayed – for the moment at least.
Farmers are welcoming the announcement of two new bills to replace the under-fire Resource Management Act.
The Government has announced it will immediately roll over all resource consents for two years, with legislation expected to pass under urgency as early as this week.
Last month's Agritechnica event led to a wide group of manufacturers celebrating successes when the 2026 Tractor of the Year Competition winners, selected by a panel of European journalists, were announced in Hanover Germany.
According to the latest Federated Farmers banking survey, farmers are more satisfied with their bank and less under pressure, however, the sector is well short of confidence levels seen last decade.
Farmer confidence has taken a slight dip according to the final Rabobank rural confidence survey for the year.
Former Agriculture Minister and Otaki farmer Nathan Guy has been appointed New Zealand’s Special Agricultural Trade Envoy (SATE).
Alliance Group has commissioned a new heat pump system at its Mataura processing plant in Southland.
Fonterra has slashed another 50c off its milk price forecast as global milk flows shows no sign of easing.
