Jumat, 27 Oktober 2017

Alpaca Farming - Tax Advantages of Alpaca Ownership

There are many advantages of alpaca ownership for a person filing a tax return. The tax laws change every year, and you may consult a qualified accountant specializing in farming and ranching.

Fortunately for you, the herd's value will increase gradually, as female alpacas only deliver one cria a year. This implies that you don't have to pay exorbitant tax on the rising value of your capital.

For instance, suppose you buy a pregnant dam for $20,000. After a year she will give birth to a cria, which may be a female. In another 3 years, this cria could give birth to another female cria. Meanwhile, the original dam mother would have had another 2 deliveries. So totally you would have 3 crias, valued at $45,000. And the original dam, now a proven female, will be valued at $25,000, or $5,000 more. The total profits would thus be $50,000.

As alpacas are your business capital, you can depreciate them, annually, using one of several depreciation methods. You can also depreciate fences, sheds used to house the animals, and alpaca transport vehicles, among other items.

A new rancher can usually qualify for a tax break, if the IRS is convinced that the farm is a for-profit enterprise. The question the IRS will ask is: has the farm made a profit in three years for every five years in business?

As this rule cannot be applied in the initial years, the IRS will look at the time spent by you on the farm, and whether you are making a living from the farm, the reasons for losses, whether you or your investing partners or employees know how to run the business profitably, and whether or not farming is merely your hobby.

You are also allowed to write off some expenses. These include amounts spent on building or repairs to a barn, the cost of building a fence, fees paid to an accountant, charges paid to hire labor, and insurance costs.

You can also deduct any amount spent for the care of your alpaca, such as vaccinations and other medical expenses, food and shearing expenses.

You are also allowed to deduct capital expenses up to $100,000, which should act as sufficient motivation for prospective ranchers in upper tax brackets.

The Farmer's Tax Guide is published by the IRS. This is intended to give ranchers sufficient information to be able to plan their tax returns with their accountants.

Tax laws in some states include exemptions for agriculture; land dedicated to farming is also entitled in some places for tax deductions. You don't have to pay sales tax, in some states, for expenses related to running your alpaca farm.

You could end up deducting a sizeable sum if you have invested in vehicles to transport your animals, and materials used for fencing and other improvements on your farm.

Brief description:

There are many advantages of alpaca ownership for a person filing a tax return. Virtually every expenses related to running an alpaca farm is deductible from your tax return. Some states even exempt you from having to pay sales tax on such expenses.
This article gives you the details.

There are lots of alpaca raisers who are in it for the money, because it's a good investment, with steady and sure returns. Also, if they have prior experience raising herd cattle, like sheep, they will already have the land and set-up required, making it easy for them, to embrace the alpaca lifestyle. In this article, I have highlighted some facts and figures about raising alpacas.


Senin, 16 Oktober 2017

Highlands Ranch Homes for Sale - A Short Journey to the History of Highlands Ranch, Colorado

Highlands Ranch is an unincorporated community in Douglas County in the state of Colorado, US. It is considered one of the highly populated unincorporated communities in the US with a population reaching 70,931 based on the year 2000 census.

If you want to look into available Highlands Ranch homes for sale listed in quality Highlands Ranch real estate listings, it would be worthy to find out more about the place. In your task to learn more things about this community, it would be ideal to begin with its origin. This article will provide you with some excerpts on the history of this nice unincorporated community in Colorado.

The Roots of Highlands Ranch

The first residents of this community are nomadic tribes such as the Ute, Arapaho, and Cheyenne tribes who belong in the population of native Americans. After sometime, a French explorer named Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle claimed the entire Mississippi River basin for France and since the place now referred to as Highlands Ranch was part of it, naturally it was also claimed. It was named as part of Louisiana and was acquired by the United States from France's claim in 1803.

Stephen Harriman Long, a US engineer, military officer and explorer set off in this area in the early part of July 1820, which marks the first exploration in this area by explorers of the European and United States descent. No permanent settlers choose to move in this area until 1870 because there is no water in this part. It was Curtis H. Field who first legally settled here because he bought the land near the west side of Sta. Fe Drive on the 25th of February, 1870.

John Springer purchased approximately 23,000 acres of ranch land from different people who have settled in the area because he wants to turn the place into a cattle ranch. It was also him, who built the now very much recognized Highlands Ranch Mansion.

More and more people moved to Colorado in the later part of the 19th century until the early part of the 20th century. Although, the city of Denver blossomed at this point, but this place remained to be farms and ranches and most people go to Littleton to buy things that they need.

In 1937, the land owned by Springer was purchased by Lawrence Philipps, Jr and was later on bought by Marvin Davis, when he died. The Mission Viejo Company bought Highlands Ranch in 1978 and due to the expansion of Denver, they wanted to build another planned suburb in the northern part of the Douglas County similar to how they planned Mission Viejo, California. This marked the start of laying plans beginning with a number of major streets, several schools, public library, and a number of recreation centers including a town center. Private housing developers started to avail large parcels of land and this marked the start of creating several homes for sale featured in segmented communities in 1981.

The first public school, Northridge Elementary opened in 1982 followed by the Highlands Ranch Jr/Sr High School in 1987, which was later on named as Highlands Ranch High School in 1991 simultaneous with the opening of the first public library and the building of the nearby Cresthil Middle School.

Highlands Ranch Homes for Sale - The Start of the Booming Community

In 1991, which marks the 10th year of this community, residents reached 17,000 and in the succeeding years, this part of Colorado continuously grew remarkably with the further development of primary establishments and the continued efforts of many housing developers to provide quality homes that helped sparked the Highlands Ranch real estate industry. Bit by bit different companies have started to set foot and establish their headquarters in this place as more and more families continue to move in this pleasant community until the population was recorded at 86, 000 in 2006. At present, this community is still steadily growing although it is still considered as a bedroom community of the city of Denver.