Estimating costs of production for individual crops can be challenging, but an important practice to understand where there might be areas for savings or investment in better inputs. It becomes even more difficult when there are multiple crops grown on a farm. A new online tool is now available to make it easier. [Read more…]
November 7, 2024 Rick VanVranken
A New Requirement for Small Businesses (Including Most Farms): Filing a Beneficial Ownership Report with the Department of the Treasury. Deadline is January 1, 2025
There has been a lot of press, and more than a little confusion, regarding a new filing requirement by the US Department of Treasury for any business organized as a corporation, including Limited Liability Corporations (LLC). All corporate businesses are required to file, so don’t throw away that reminder/application that arrived in the mail recently! There are penalties for not filing by the deadline.
The following article is reprinted with permission from Cornell Cooperative Extension as it appeared in the 11/6/2024 CCE VegEdge e-newsletter.
Written by Elizabeth Higgins, Cornell Cooperative Extension Associate in Ag Business Management/Production Economics, Eastern NY Commercial Hort Program, Hudson Valley Research Lab, Highland, NY
Beginning January 1, 2024, most small entities—including single member LLCs—must file online reports with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, disclosing information about the beneficial owners of the entities. This new reporting requirement—estimated to impact at least 32.6 million entities in 2024—was created by the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). Existing entities have until January 1, 2025, to make their first beneficial ownership information (BOI) report.
Do I have to File?
If you are an LLC, Corporation, LLP or Limited Partnership in New York[NJ], yes you do.
Any entity created by the filing of a document with a secretary of state or any similar office under the law of a state or Indian tribe, unless excepted from the reporting requirement, must file. Examples of exempt entities include tax-exempt and government. (The list of exempt entities is in this FAQ.)
For-profit farms are not on the exempt list. Single-member LLCs are subject to BOI reporting requirements. Sole proprietorship farms are exempt since they do not file with the secretary of state in New York.
Why on Earth do I have to do this?
In 2021, Congress passed the Corporate Transparency Act on a bipartisan basis. This law creates a new reporting requirement as part of U.S. government efforts to make it harder for bad actors to use shell companies or opaque ownership structures to hide or benefit from ill-gotten gains.
What Happens if I Don’t File?
You should file because the penalties are large, and it is straightforward to file.
Failure to file a BOI report can result in severe civil and criminal penalties! If you don’t file a BOI report, you could face a $500-per-day fine, up to $10,000, and up to two years in prison.
==> Where to File: https://boiefiling.fincen.gov/fileboir.
How will this information be used and who can see it?
Beneficial ownership information reported to FinCEN is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). FinCEN published the rule that will govern access to and protection of beneficial ownership information on December 22, 2023. According to the website, beneficial
ownership information reported to FinCEN is stored in a secure, non-public database using rigorous information security methods and controls typically used in the Federal government to protect non-classified yet sensitive information systems at the highest security level.
In accordance with the Corporate Transparency Act, FinCEN may permit access of beneficial ownership information to:
- Federal agencies engaged in national security, intelligence, or law enforcement activity.
- State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies with court authorization.
- Officials at the Department of the Treasury.
- Foreign law enforcement agencies, judges, prosecutors, and other authorities that submit a request through a U.S. Federal agency to obtain beneficial ownership information for authorized activities related to national security, intelligence, and law enforcement.
- Financial institutions with customer due diligence requirements under applicable law (to facilitate compliance with those requirements).
- Federal functional regulators or other appropriate regulatory agencies that supervise or assess financial institutions with access to beneficial ownership information (to supervise such financial institutions’ compliance with customer due diligence requirements).
What Information Will I have to Provide?
For the company:
- Full legal name
- Any trade name or “doing business as” name
- Complete current U.S. address
- Jurisdiction of formation (including State or Tribal jurisdiction for a domestic reporting company)
For each beneficial owner and each company applicant required to be reported:
- Full legal name
- Date of birth
- Complete current address
- Unique identifying number and issuing jurisdiction from one of the following non-expired documents:
- U.S. passport
- Identification document issued by a State, local government, or Indian Tribe
- State-issued driver’s license
- If none of the above are available, a foreign passport, and an image of the document from which the unique identifying number was obtained.
What is a “Beneficial Owner”?
In general, beneficial owners are individuals who:
- Directly or indirectly exercise “substantial control” over the reporting company, or
- Directly or indirectly own or control 25% or more of the “ownership interests” of the reporting company.
The rules for the program provide that beneficial owners do not include:
- A minor child, provided the reporting company reports the required information of a parent or legal guardian of the minor child and states that the individual is the parent or legal guardian of a minor (once the minor child reaches the age of majority, the report must be updated).
- An individual acting as a nominee, intermediary, custodian, or agent on behalf of another individual.
- An employee of a reporting company, acting solely as an employee, provided that such person is not a senior officer.
- An individual whose only interest in a reporting company is a future interest through a right of inheritance.
- A creditor of a reporting company.
What are “Company Applicants”?
Companies created or registered before January 1, 2024, are required to report only beneficial owners. Companies created or registered on or after January 1, 2024, must report the company applicants, in addition to beneficial owners. Company applicants include:
- The individual who directly files the document that creates, or first registers, the reporting company; and
- The individual that is primarily responsible for directing or controlling the filing of the relevant document.
What is the “FinCen Identifier”?
An individual or reporting company may obtain a FinCEN identifier by submitting an application at or after the time that the reporting company submits its initial report. Each identifier is specific to the individual or reporting company. If an individual has obtained a FinCEN identifier, the reporting company may use that identifier in its report instead of reporting all of the required information for the individual.
Where Can I get More Information?
- Department of the Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen) Beneficial Ownership website: https://www.fincen.gov/boi
- Department of the Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) BOIeFiling website: https://boiefiling.fincen.gov/
January 9, 2023 Rick VanVranken
‘Annie’s Project’ Online Course for NJ Farmers Begins This Week – Still Time to Register
Offering important farm management lessons to help women* farmers succeed
Rutgers Cooperative Extension (RCE) will present a new online version of the popular Annie’s Project, over the course of six weeks, one evening per week, starting this Wednesday, January 11. Registration (click here) is still open at the $100 price until the program begins and includes workshop study materials, and admission to the NJACTS (February 7~9). “Annie Goes Online: Risk Management On Your Kitchen Table,” will be offered virtually via Zoom on January 11, 18, and 25; February 15 and 22; and March 1 from 6 – 9 p.m.
The course starts this week with an insightful session on transition, and managing marketing, financial and human resource risks by keynote speaker Wenfei Uva, co-owner of Seaberry Farm – a 36-acre specialty fruit and flower farm in Federalsburg, Maryland. Uva received her Ph.D. from Cornell University in agricultural economics and was an extension leader for the Cornell Horticultural Business Management and Marketing Program from 1999-2007.
An optional all day in person tax workshop on Thursday, February 9th will be offered at the 2023 New Jersey Agriculture Convention and Trade Show (NJACTS) in Atlantic City.
“As in the previous Annie’s Project programs, this workshop is designed to educate and train new and aspiring farm women on risk management strategies and provide tools for successful business management,” says Robin Brumfield, extension specialist in farm management, Rutgers Cooperative Extension.
Financial assistance, provided by Farm Credit East, is available to those in need. Funds are available on a first-come-first-served basis to those who apply by filling out a scholarship application.
Course topics include:
- Labor recruitment and labor laws;
- business income and cash flow management, as well as personal finances;
- food safety and water use regulations;
- insurance and taxes;
- production relevant risk management related to:
- soil fertility and soil health;
- crop/livestock production budgets;
- controlled environment agriculture;
- storm water management;
- livestock-poultry disease biosecurity; and
- marketing and supply channels.
“New, aspiring, and current women farmers will gain educational training on the essentials of preparing a business plan, considered a vital roadmap to success for any business,” says Brumfield. Participants will also benefit from networking opportunities with their peers and other agricultural professionals.
*While targeting women as primary owners and partners in farm businesses, Annie’s Project training is open to all.
For more information about the program, visit Rutgers Farm Management Website. Material for this program is based upon work supported by USDA/NIFA under Award Number 2021-70027-34693.
October 14, 2021 Rick VanVranken
Annie’s Project New Jersey Celebrates its 10th Anniversary with Important Workshop for NJ Farmers
Workshop offers important farm management lessons to help women succeed
Rutgers Cooperative Extension (RCE) is celebrating10 years of Annie’s Project New Jersey with a free, online workshop headlined by Bridget Behe, professor and extension specialist in marketing at Michigan State University.
The training workshop, titled “Annie’s Project New Jersey 10 Years of Empowering New Jersey Farmers,” will be held via Zoom on November 4, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Registration is currently open. The workshop is free, but participants must register in order to receive the link to attend.
“As in the previous Annie’s Project programs, this workshop is designed to educate and train new and aspiring farm women and provide tools for successful business management with particular focus on successful strategies to deal with the ongoing pandemic and post-pandemic,” says Robin Brumfield, extension specialist in farm management with RCE.
“In addition, this program focuses on topics within these areas of risk that present unique challenges to urban farmers,” she explains. A 2019 article on Annie’s Project New Jersey is currently the featured success story by the Northeast Extension Risk Management Education Center.
Participants will have access to invaluable tools to help sustain their farm business, including the expertise of keynote speaker Bridget Behe, who will answer the number one question farmers have been asking us, “How can farmers turn the new customers they got during the pandemic into permanent customers?”
Behe, a sought-after speaker at state, regional and national businesses and associations, provides helpful marketing and management practices designed to improve profitability and sustainability. Her website, “Marketing Munchies,” features short podcasts that use research-based information on horticulture marketing. Her podcasts can be accessed on Connect-2-Consumer or on a favorite podcast provider. Her recent peer-reviewed publications are also available on this website.
Also addressing participants will be Brian Schilling, director of Rutgers Cooperative Extension, whose presentation will focus on recent direct marketing and agritourism issues. There will be breakout sessions on the topics, Succession Planning, Marketing, and Production. The workshop will feature a panel of women farmers who will discuss what has worked and what they would change in their own operations, with a wrap-up presentation on building resilience by Brumfield.
Read more about Annie’s Project New Jersey at Rutgers. Find a detailed agenda of the workshop here.
