05/05/06 Preparing for parts tax exemption

Farm and Ranch May 5, 2006 Getting some paperwork out of the way ahead of time will enable qualifying farmers and ranchers to take advantage of the new sales tax exemption on agricultural equipment replacement parts when it takes effect July 1st. Joanne Gordon with the Department of Revenue details the eligibility requirements. Gordon: "This exemption is a little bit different than prior exemptions in that they first have to apply to the Department of Revenue for the exemption certificate. There is also the requirement that the person be a farmer as that term is defined in the statute, which is basically raising, growing, or producing agricultural products on your own land or land that you have a current right of possession to, for sale." The farm must also have had at least 10-thousand dollars in gross sales in the calendar year prior to the year the exemption is applied for. Gordon explains the materials the department plans to have available on its website May 15th. Gordon; "An application they can use to send into us along with their IRS information, IRS forms, that indicate the amount of gross sales of their agricultural products, so they can get that into us before, those that are able to, get that into us before July 1st." Revenue's website is http://dor.wa.gov That's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report. Brought to you in part by the Washington State Potato Commission. Nutrition today! Good health tomorrow! I'm Bob Hoff on the Northwest Ag Information Network.