Over the past several years we have seen many of our clients enter into interest rate swap agreements in an effort to stabilize interest expense. An interest rate swap is a forward contract in which one stream of future interest payments are exchanged for another based on a specified principal amount. The most common type...

As the calendar has flipped to 2019, I wanted to provide you an update and reminder on accounting standards that may now be in effect or are getting closer to implementation so that you will be prepared. Revenue Recognition (2014-09) In 2014 the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued new revenue recognition standards. The impact...

Under the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA), there exists a “transition rule” for patron farmers who sold grain, milk, livestock or other commodities to the cooperative(s). This transition rule only applies to producers who sold to a cooperative that has other than a calendar year end. For calendar year end cooperatives, the...

The 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) amended the rules for deducting business interest expense (BIE). In general, under the previous law a business could deduct any amounts paid or ac­crued for interest during the tax year. The TCJA added new limits and requires additional compu­tations in determining the amount of deductible business interest...

It has been a memorable and reflective year for the agricultural industry in general, and in particular for cooperatives with the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – 2017 and the subsequent Consolidated Appropriations Act – 2018, Section 199A. Many concerns were raised within the agricultural community of the unintended consequences that the...

It’s that time of year when we reflect on what happened over the past year. Depending on where you are geographically, 2018 may be a year that you can’t wait to put in the rear-view mirror (at least I know many of your patrons feel this way). Some areas saw a wet, sometimes snowy spring...