DTN Ag Policy Editor Chris Clayton reported today that, “Not that this is a situation any farmer wants to find themselves in, but Congress on Tuesday gave final approval to a change in bankruptcy law to help farmers deal with the Internal Revenue Service.
“The Family Farmer Bankruptcy Clarification Act, sponsored by Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Al Franken, D-Minn., was attached to an appropriations package that breezed through the U.S. Senate on a 82-17 vote.
“The bill corrects a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on an earlier bankruptcy law. The law will clarify congressional intent to allow a family farm to reorganize in bankruptcy court while restricting the IRS’s ability to ‘veto’ the farmer’s decision. Essentially, farmers in bankruptcy that are forced to sell farm assets would be allowed to treat the capital-gains taxes as a general unsecured claim.”
The DTN article indicated that, “The bill now goes to President Trump and he is expected to sign the supplemental appropriations that would enact the bankruptcy change.”
