Category Archives: Tax Issues

IRS Announces 2023 Estate & Gift Tax Exemption Amounts

Recently, the IRS announced the 2023 estate and gift tax exemption amounts.  These amounts change slightly each year, and are an important consideration in a person’s estate planning process. As we have previously discussed the IRS sets a certain amount that a person is allowed to give during their lifetime or at death without estate or gift tax liability.  [Read prior blog posts here and here.]  The IRS adjusts the amount each year.  For 2023, the exemption amount will be $12.92 million per person, up from $12.06 million… Read More →

August 5, 2022 Weekly Round Up

Happy Friday and Happy August!  We’re back with another Ag Law Weekly Round Up. Earlier this week, I was able to travel to California with my kids and my aunt to accept the Distinguished Extension Program Award (less than 10 years) from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.  I am so honored to have received this award, and my children were quite excited to swim in the Pacific Ocean and visit Disneyland. With that, here are some of the ag law stories in the news this week. *US… Read More →

April 29, 2022 Weekly Round Up

It is hard to believe we have reached the end of April, but here we are!  Lots of agricultural law news happening around the country. *Article highlights nuance with 10% cap on residence homestead tax.  My colleague, Dr. Blake Bennett, recently published a fact sheet looking at a nuance within the Texas Property Code related to the 10% cap on the yearly increase for residence homestead taxes in Texas.  The Texas Property Code places a 10% limitation on the amount a County Appraisal District may increase the appraised… Read More →

April 15, 2022 Weekly Round Up

It has been another busy couple of weeks in the agricultural law world.  Here are some of the stories in the news. *Important property tax deadlines approaching for Texas landowners.  Don’t forget there are important property tax deadlines this month for many Texas landowners receiving open space tax valuation. This includes filing an application for ag use, open space, or wildlife management valuation, changing land from open space to wildlife management use, and any new purchasers of land who intend to continue receiving open space valuation. [Read more here.]… Read More →

April 1, 2022 Weekly Round Up

Happy April! We’ve got lots of happenings in the agricultural law world today. *US Supreme Court will hear case challenging constitutionality of California’s Proposition 12. The United States Supreme Court has granted the Petition for Certiorari in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, a case challenging the animal confinement provisions and corresponding product sales limitations imposed on pork producers. Lower courts dismissed the challenge brought by the National Pork Producers Council and American Farm Bureau Federation claiming that the law runs afoul of the Constitution. [Read article here.]… Read More →

December 17, 2021 Weekly Round Up

Here we are with our final Weekly Round Up of 2021!   It has been quite the year. We will have our annual nationwide and Texas-specific year-in-review blog posts coming up over the next couple of weeks, and we recently released an Ag Law in the Field Podcast episode recapping the year from an ag law perspective here. Here are some recent news stories that may be of interest. *EPA considering modifications to dicamba approval, but offers no timeline.  A senior regulatory specialist with EPA stated that “the agency… Read More →

September 24, 2021 Weekly Round Up

>Hello and Happy Friday!  We’re back with an Ag Law Weekly Round Up to catch you up on some of the ag law stories over the past month. *EPA Administrator discusses dicamba, WOTUS, and ag advisor.  Recently, EPA Administrator, Michael Regan, spoke at the NASDA national meeting.  He indicated that the EPA is currently working on a new version of the “waters of the United States” definition pursuant to the Clean Water Act, and he expects for the initial proposed draft to be released in November.  He did… Read More →

August 27, 2021 Weekly Round Up

We’ve made it through another week!  I know many of you are new readers thanks to my surprisingly popular post on Monday about brand registrations.  If you missed that post, click here. Here is a look at some of the ag law stories recently in the news. * Appellate courts rule on three “ag gag” statutes.  I am going to have a more detailed blog post on this coming in the next couple of weeks, but there have been three decisions from federal appellate courts related to “ag… Read More →

AFPC Analyzes Proposed Tax Change Impact on Representative Farms

The Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University recently released a report looking at the likely impacts of proposed changes to the estate and capital gains taxes. [View Report here.]  Specifically, the report analyzed the impact that changes to the lifetime exclusion for estate taxes and the elimination of the stepped up basis for capital gains taxes would have on the AFPC’s 94 representative farms.  The results were clear in showing that for the representative farms, the proposed policy changes would greatly increase tax liability. Estate… Read More →

Talking Taxes: Capital Gains Tax

Today, we are wrapping up our three-part blog series, Talking Taxes.  Be sure you didn’t miss our prior posts on the estate tax and gift tax.  Today, we will tackle the topic of capital gains taxes. I’ll offer the same two disclaimers as I have on the prior posts in this series.  I am not a tax lawyer, CPA, or accountant.  I’m here to offer just basic information, but highly recommend that you consult with your attorney and tax professional for further advice or clarification.  Second, there has… Read More →