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As the 2023 filing season begins, taxpayers and their preparers must sort through new guidance and rules to determine their requirements for the 2022 tax year. This post details 10 key considerations for these returns.
Agricultural supply dealer liens—intended to encourage suppliers to provide necessary feed and supplies to agricultural producers—can be difficult to enforce.
The memorandum can be found here.
Hunting ground is a precious commodity in Iowa. Hunters often approach landowners looking for ground to hunt. Whether to grant such permission and to whom to grant that permission is a complex decision. This article was originally written in June 2014, and updated in January 2023.
On December 16, 2022, the North Carolina Supreme Court denied an appeal claiming that the state’s Right to Farm Act was unconstitutional. Previously, the North Carolina Court of Appeals had granted the State’s motion to dismiss under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 12(b)(6). Rural Empowerment Ass’n for Cmty. Help v. North Carolina, 2021 WL 6014722 (N.C. App. Dec. 21, 2021).
On November 2, 2022, the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed that a niece who added herself to her aunt’s bank accounts failed to rebut the presumption of undue influence. A transfer from a grantor to their fiduciary is presumptively fraudulent. To refute this, the niece had the burden to show 1) that she acted in good faith and 2) that her aunt acted voluntarily. Because the niece instead presented evidence that undue influence was not established, she failed to meet this burden.
On December 21, 2022, the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s finding that the plaintiffs failed to prove ownership of property under the legal theories of boundary by acquiescence or adverse possession.
On December 5, 2022, the United States Tax Court found that a farmer who had purchased 29 used tractors over the course of three years did purchase the tractors for legitimate business purposes.
On November 2, 2022, the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed that a sheriff’s sale should not be set aside for failure to record the sheriff’s deed within the statutory time period. See Iowa Code § 654.16A.
Three companies are seeking to build carbon capture pipelines across Iowa.
On October 19, 2022, the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed the discount rate for transactional costs in a farm corporation buyout.
On October 18, 2022, the USDA announced that it had already provided nearly $800 million in assistance to distressed borrowers to help cure delinquencies and resolve uncollectable farm loan debts.
The National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard law requires all bioengineered food to disclose its bioengineered status to consumers through “text, symbol, or electronic or digital link.” 7 U.S.C. § 1639b(b)(2)(D). The USDA, through the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), promulgated the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard rule in 2018 .A group of retail stores and food advocacy groups brought suit in the Northern District of California claiming that the regulations violated the Administrative Procedure Act. A federal judge agreed and found that the USDA failed to comply with the disclosure statute’s directive to “provide additional and comparable options” to ensure that consumers could access the electronic disclosure.
On October 5, 2022, the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a petition contesting the distribution of trust assets.
On October 5, 2022, the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed the division of two properties between a farmer and his two sisters.
On September 26, 2022, a federal judge in the Southern District of Iowa again found an Iowa farm trespass law to be unconstitutional. Under Iowa Code § 727.8A (the “Trespass Surveillance law”), anyone who trespasses and “knowingly places or uses a camera or electronic surveillance device that transmits or records images or data while the device is on the trespassed property” is guilty of an aggravated misdemeanor. This is Iowa’s third farm fraud and trespass law found to be in violation of the First Amendment by this court.
On August 31, 2022, the Iowa Court of Appeals held that a creditor cannot collect distributions from a spendthrift trust until the funds are in the beneficiary’s control. A creditor attempted to garnish funds of two spendthrift trusts which were being held by a trustee for the debtor’s benefit. The district court denied the debtor’s motion to quash the garnishment. Because the debtor had not yet received the distributions, the Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s order.
On August 31, 2022, the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of a motion for a new trial in an erosion lawsuit. Landowners claimed that their neighbor’s construction caused erosion damage on their farmland. Because there was sufficient evidence that the landowners’ failure to maintain the waterway contributed to the damage, the court affirmed the denial.
On August 3, 2022, the Iowa Court of Appeals settled a boundary dispute between two neighboring family members. Because neither party established their allegations of boundary by acquiescence or easement by prescription, the court affirmed the denial of their claims.
On August 17, 2022, the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed that two sisters could not have interfered with their brother’s alleged contract with their parents to become the sole owner of an 80-acre parcel of farmland. The brother claimed to have an oral contract with their mother. Because the farmland was owned by the siblings’ father, the brother did not have a contract with the owner of the property.
