Farm incomes fell off a cliff last year and things have not improved in 2024

The back end of 2023 saw a day of reckoning when the income tax liabilities for 2022 became due, writes agricultural accountant and farmer Kieran Coughlan.

We are fast approaching this year’s tax return deadline, and the downside of having elected into income averaging is that those farmers will once again face an ‘average’ tax bill, even though 2023 was a shockingly bad year by any yardstick.

The news was out this past week that farm incomes fell off a cliff in 2023. For farmers and the accountants who deal with farmers, this is not a surprise. Fast forward to the present and farmers' incomes are still very much under pressure, seven months into 2024.

Although farm prices have stabilised and improved a little in some quarters in 2024, and equally on the farm inputs side there is relative stability, the extended Spring and poor growing season is causing a significant drag.