The IRS has released its spring 2007 issue of the Statistics of Income Bulletin
The bulletin examines more than three million individual income tax returns for tax year 2004 with adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 or more, and highlights high-income individual tax returns as well as S corporations. The report also contains an article on farm proprietorship returns. It’s the first report IRS has published on such farm returns in over 20 years. IR-2007-119 (Jun. 19, 2007).
Here’s a brief summary of the farm portion of the report:
- The number of farm proprietorship returns dropped by 4.5 percent between 1998 and 2004, with the majority of farm proprietorship returns showing a net loss from farming;
- For 2004, 70 percent of farm proprietorship returns showed a net farming loss;
- For 2004, 29.1 percent of farm proprietorship returns showed a net farming profit with the majority of these returns showing adjusted gross income of less than $100,000;
- Gross farm income reported by farm sole proprietorships rose by 8.3 percent from 1998 to 2004 (but dropped by 4.5 percent when measured in constant dollars), but farm expenses increased by 12.9 percent during the same timeframe.
- Between 1998 and 2004, farm net profit dropped 16.3, but farm net losses rose 23.2 percent
Nearly every farm industry experienced a drop in net farm profit for tax years 1998-2004. In total, the farming industry as a whole experienced a 16.3 percent decline in net profit (measured in constant dollars).