Farm accountant in Regina

We work with grain and mixed farms around Regina, White City, Emerald Park, Moose Jaw and the rest of the plain, whether the farm is a sole proprietorship, a partnership between family members or a farm corporation.

Grain income and when it lands

A grain farm’s year does not run with the calendar. The crop is harvested in the fall, but it can be sold that winter, the following summer, or on a contract that settles in pieces. On the cash method the timing of sales is the main lever over taxable income, and it has to be managed across several years rather than one.

That makes the marketing plan part of the tax plan. A year with two crops sold, or with a large program payment on top of normal sales, can push income into brackets that a steadier pattern would avoid. We look at it before the last delivery of the year, not after the T4A and sales slips arrive.

The cash method and the adjustments behind it

Farming is one of the few businesses allowed to report on the cash method: income when received, expenses when paid. It is simpler, and it allows a farm to smooth income by timing input purchases and sales. The trade-off is a set of inventory adjustments that stop the method being used to create losses indefinitely.

Where a farm reports a loss and holds purchased inventory, a mandatory inventory adjustment adds part of that inventory back to income. An optional inventory adjustment lets a farm add inventory value to income in a low year to use up credits and deductions that would otherwise be wasted. Both carry into the next year as deductions. They are routine on a well-run farm file and invisible on a poorly run one. Cash versus accrual sets out the difference.

Zero-rated sales, recoverable inputs

Most basic farm products — grain, oilseeds, pulses, livestock raised for food — are zero-rated for GST. The farm charges no GST on those sales, but because they are taxable at zero rather than exempt, it can still claim input tax credits on fuel, repairs, fertiliser that carries tax, professional fees and equipment. A registered grain farm is often in a refund position, and a farm that never registered may be leaving those credits unclaimed.

Saskatchewan PST is separate. The province has its own rules for qualifying farm machinery and inputs, and which purchases qualify is set by the province rather than by the GST rules. PST that is paid is a cost, not a credit. Zero-rated versus exempt explains why the distinction matters.

Equipment, bins and trade-ins

Combines, tractors, air seeders, sprayers and grain bins are the largest numbers on most farm balance sheets, and they are recovered through capital cost allowance at the rates for their class. A purchase near year-end is only claimable once the equipment is available for use, and the first-year rules differ from a full-year claim.

Trade-ins are where the numbers surprise people. Trading an older combine on a new one is, for tax purposes, a sale of the old unit and a purchase of the new. The trade-in value reduces the class, and if a class is left with a negative balance, the excess comes back into income as recapture. We plan major purchases and trades together so the year-end result is known before the deal is signed.

An acreage, a second income and restricted farm losses

Plenty of Regina households farm alongside a job in the city. Where farming, alone or combined with another source, is not the chief source of income, farm losses can be restricted. Only part of the loss is deductible against other income each year, and the rest carries forward against future farm income. Whether the restriction applies turns on the whole picture: time spent, capital invested, and whether the farm is run to make a profit.

The same household question comes up on the personal tax return. We document the farm’s commercial footing so the claim is supportable if the CRA asks.

Passing the farm to the next generation

Farmland, farm corporation shares and partnership interests can qualify as qualified farm property. That opens two things: the lifetime capital gains exemption on a sale, and intergenerational rollovers that let the farm pass to a child at tax cost rather than at market value. Both depend on conditions about how the property was used and by whom, often over a period of years before the transfer.

Succession is rarely one transaction. It is a sequence: who farms, who owns, who is bought out and how, and when each step happens. We start with where the farm is today and what each family member expects. Farm succession and rollovers covers the mechanics.

What EverStone handles for you

One CPA, one fixed fee quoted up front, everything below covered:

• Farm income on the T1 or T2, with cash-method inventory adjustments
• GST registration, input tax credits and refund claims
• Equipment, bin and building CCA, with trade-ins planned ahead
• Program payments and crop insurance proceeds reported correctly
• Seasonal payroll and records of employment
• Succession and qualified farm property planning

Fixed fees, fully online

EverStone is an Abbotsford CPA firm with no Regina office, and every engagement runs online — video calls, e-signature and a secure upload link, so you never lose a day in seeding or harvest to an office visit. You are not billed by the hour or the phone call: your fee is a fixed amount agreed before any work starts, so you can ask a question in June without watching a meter. The same CPA handles your file all year, and deadline reminders arrive before each due date. See what it costs or book a free, no-obligation consult and leave with a clear written quote.