Farm Depreciation Strategies

Write your awesome label here.

Course Description

Farm Depreciation Strategies moves past computing the deduction to deploying it. Built for CPAs, EAs, and tax professionals who advise farms, ranches, and agribusiness, it treats first-year expensing as a planning decision rather than a mechanical one. Participants work the choices that drive a farm client’s after-tax result: coordinating immediate expensing with bonus depreciation, structuring equipment trades and farmland purchases, anticipating recapture on a sale or personal-use conversion, and applying method corrections and production-property elections. The emphasis is the multi-year, state-aware tradeoffs that decide whether an aggressive deduction actually serves the client.

Overview

  • ATU Course #: 212
  • Field of Study: Taxes (Technical) 
  • Program Level: Intermediate 
  • Prerequisites: Working knowledge of farm depreciation fundamentals
  • Advance Preparation: None 
  • Delivery Method: QAS Self-Study (on-demand) 
  • Recommended CPE Credit: 3.0 hours (based on 50-minute NASBA hour) 
  • Target Audience: CPAs, Enrolled Agents, and tax professionals serving farms, ranches, and agribusiness 

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Evaluate first-year expensing elections to optimize a farm’s multi-year tax outcome. 

2. Apply depreciation rules to farm acquisitions, trades, and cost-segregated purchases. 

3. Analyze the recapture consequences of selling or converting farm assets. 

4. Determine when a method correction or production-property election applies. 

Course Lessons

Course Outline

Meet Your Instructor

Paul G. Neiffer CPA

Paul Neiffer is a nationally recognized authority on agricultural taxation and financial management. He educates thousands of CPAs and tax professionals nationwide through his writing, speaking, and training programs, offering deep insight into complex farm tax and succession issues.

For more information on your instructor, please visit our About section.

Education Information

  • ATU Course ID: ATU-TAX-INT-SS-2026-009-v1
  • IRS Program Number:
  • NASBA Program Number: 170295
  • Field of Study: Taxes (NASBA): Federal Tax Topics/Federal Tax Related Matters (IRS)
  • Delivery Method: QAS Self-Study (NASBA): On-Demand (IRS)
  • Publication Date: July 2026
  • Revision/Review Date: July 2026
  • Course Developer:  Penny Wade Smith EA
  • Course Reviewer:  Paul G. Neiffer CPA

Participants must complete the Final Exam within one year of purchase.