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As the calendar year flips from one year to the next, we are gathering information to have our taxes prepared. All year long, we work with Compeer Financial, a cooperative that has our farm loans and our accounting. We send our receipts and payroll into them monthly, and they help us keep on track to pay down money on loans and to be ready for tax time. Along with Compeer, we use H&R Block to help with tax preparation.
I do have some family and friends who do their own bookkeeping and taxes, but that is too much for me to handle. I leave it up to the professionals. Doing payroll is one thing, but I am not going to risk preparing the W-2s and 1099s. I don’t want to have mistakes, and this is something I want done by someone who knows the deadlines and the tax laws.
With COVID-19, all communication between the accountant and tax preparation has been through email. Back in December, they reached out to us to get all the information they need and let us know how we are standing financially before the end of the year. On a good year, we are able to prepay for inputs and purchase the feed, seed and fertilizers ahead of time, and purchase crop insurance for the upcoming year.
Duane, my husband, has meetings at our kitchen table with our crop insurance man. Figuring out crop coverage changes every year depending on the prices of the crops at the time. Thank goodness Duane takes care of all of the plans and purchases what we need.
The meeting with our agronomist from United Cooperative is to figure out what we are going to plant where and what kind of fertilizers are needed based on our nutrient management plan. With Dekalb and Cropland seeds, there are award incentives when purchasing. I know we are paying for these awards, but there is only so much wiggle room when wheeling and dealing with costs and inputs. So, we always look forward to what kind of awards we might earn.
The awards can be anything from products that help us on the farm, laptops to leaf blowers or vacations. We usually take the vacation to get away from the farm for four nights or even a week in a condo. The destinations are throughout the United States and often exotic.
We have been able to go to Hawaii, Costa Rica and even Antigua. Sometimes if there is a meeting at the destination, the flight costs are included. Last year, we were to use our award from 2019, but COVID-19 changed all that. The dates of the trips were extended but need to be used by Feb. 28.
As the deadline is approaching, I am trying to figure out what to do. Do we go off the farm, travel and possibly get COVID-19? We have been happy about staying home to avoid any contact with others, but do I let this opportunity expire? It would be nice to go someplace warm, and there are a lot of places on the gulf coast and out west we would like to visit. San Diego, San Antonio, New Orleans or Florida are some options to escape from the cold on the farm just to sit in the sun and warm up for a few days.
As we looked at the options and tried to decide, Duane asked Google, “How much does it cost to fly from Madison, Wisconsin, to San Diego, California.” Google replied, “Flight costs from Madison, Wisconsin, to San Diego, California, start at $89.” That was our answer.
Tina Hinchley, and her husband,  Duane, daughter Anna, milk 240 registered Holsteins with robots.  They also farm 2300 acres of crops near Cambridge, Wisconsin.  The Hinchley’s have been hosting farm tour for over 25 years.

 

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