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The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act preserved like-kind exchange treatment for real property, but eliminated it for personal property.

Iowa law has been clear, and it is perhaps even more clear today. Unlike most other states, Iowa is “unequivocal in favoring partition by sale." Newhall v. Roll, 888 N.W.2d 636, 640 (Iowa 2016).

Update: On March 13, 2018, Senators Grassley, Hatch, Roberts, Thune, and Hoeven issued a joint statement, including the following:

As the year concludes, we’re taking some time to review the most significant happenings in agricultural law and taxation in 2017. Some closed chapters on drawn-out litigation or administrative action.

On April 11, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia vacated an EPA final rule that had been in place for nine years.

We told you last April about changes that would come to the Iowa Beginning Farmer Tax Credit program in 2018, absent legislation.

Update: President Trump signed H.R.1 into law on December 22, 2017.

The Iowa Court of Appeals recently affirmed a judgment in favor of a borrower, against his banker, for claims of fraudulent misrepresentation and nondisclosure.

Update: The conference committee released its report on December 15, 2017. Congress will vote on this final bill next week. 

On October 31, the IRS issued Notice 2017-67, detailing requirements for the qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangements (QSEHRAs) implemented last December by the 21^st Century Cures Act.

Update: The House of Representatives passed H.R. 1 on November 16 by a vote of 227-205. Later that day, the Chairman's Mark cleared the Senate Finance Committee by a vote of 14-12. See the Senate legislative text.

Note: These provisions have been significantly modified by the Chairman's second amendment. In particular, the SE tax modifications have all been removed in the Bill that passed out of the Committee.

A case from the Iowa Court of Appeals today illustrates the operation of the Iowa fence law.

Update: On October 26, 2017, President Trump signed this bill into law.

It was not unexpected. In 2012, the Iowa Legislature passed and Governor Branstad signed Iowa Code § 717A.3A. This legislation, titled Agricultural Production Facility Fraud, has been called Iowa’s “Ag-Gag” law.

Update: IRS formally withdrew these proposed regulations (REG 163113-02) in FR Doc. 2017-2776, filed October 17, 2017, for publication on October 20, 2017.

Everyone interested in the farmer lawsuits against Syngenta knows about reports of a settlement between the disputing parties, achieved in the midst of a jury trial.  But the settling parties aren’t saying what the details of the settlement m

First there was the Blueprint, then the Bullet Points, and now the “Framework.”[i] On September 27, the White House, the House Committee on Ways and Means, and the Senate Committee on Finance made public an outline of their proposals for long-awai

On September 27, the U.S. Tax Court ruled that a Texas farm couple was not liable to pay self-employment tax on rents they received from the S corporation through which they conducted a poultry growing operation. The decision in Martin v.