I know I am new to the forum and this part of the forum probably does not have much traffic, but I have a ranch in S Texas and we are under WLM. I have been doing it sine 2011 and am a bit of a fanatic so... lol.. if anyone else is from Texas and is curious about it, love talking WLM.


May need to see if a pond will allow a wlm tax status on our house.. heh

Russ

We use agg exemption here in E Texas and so it is no advantage for WLM exemption but we do what we can when it comes to Wildlife management. You might want to look into bee keeping for exemption also. I have no problem paying my fair share of taxes but I do have a problem paying more than my fair share. How large is your place in S Texas? I ask because there are some really large ranches down there where I had quail lease along with dove hunting.

Russ
We are using timber exemption on our place but we're thinking of rolling over to WLM because we feed deer year around and try to manage them . Not sure if the exemptions would include pond and related expenses also. If anyone has any ideas on this .... please chime in

We also are a little obsessed with deer management

I have the WLM exemption. When it became available, I sold cows/horses and quit worrying about fences.

Pat, Dan Van Schaik told me, at the last PB Conference, that you couldn't go from crops to WLM; only from cattle/goats, etc.

Hmm.... Dave not what I've heard....but will find out and post results

You saying timber is the same as crops?

Hey guys, sorry.. was working on my new deck all weekend.

Welp, not an expert, just like talking WLM. I believe it does not matter what you do, cows, goats, timber, crops.. if it is an AG, you can go to WLM. The difference you will notice is that if you are a non-producing WLM, you do not get the tax break on sales tax.

One of the things that I think people confuse is the sales tax break on things you buy for the ranch. I know a few scammers will try to sell people things and SAY they can use their tax break, but the sales tax aspect only applies if you 'produce' things, i.e. wlm does not produce anything.. heh.

Anyway, your best authority on what the WLM can do and does cover, is TPWD.... the local CAD tried to tell us they did not allow shooting coons or bird houses because the lady did not feel that was 'real', but TPWD set them straight and new smarter people took over later and they say count it all.

The real answer lies somewhere between what TPWD says and allows and what you are willing to stand up to the CAD and defend. MOST counties do not care. If you show an AG exemption, they will let you do a WLM. If they do not, you just need to talk to a TPWD on how to defend it.

One thing to note, the REAL power a county has is not in telling people what they can and cannot do, it is mandating the minimum requirements for AG exemption.

To get a WLM, you must already have an AG exemption.

Our county tried to change the minimum acres for AG from like 50 to 400. If that had gone through, a person that lost their AG and was under 400 acres would never have a chance to get it back.

So, check that county requirement out and be prepared to document and never lose your WLM if you are below that minimum.

Russ

I have ag exemption. I my part of the state, there is too much upkeep for WLM, unless you want grownup jungle that you can't walk thru. Cattle help keep it grazed down, otherwise I would have to mow it at least twice a year.

I agree whole-heartedly. When debating a WLM, for a hunting ranch, it was easy as I was doing all the stuff anyway. If the steps of a wlm are not something you would normally do, an ag exemption may be a better choice.

If your land is totally fenced, again.. might also be easier.

Mine is not totally fenced, so was the right choice.

Russ

Wonder if you can write off a pond for wildlife? Anybody know?

I doubt that you can for taxes. But, water for wildlife is one of the components that you can list for the wildlife tax exemption.

My cpa did not want to change from agg to wlm and after reading here about loss of sales tax exemption, for me it would be a no brainer to keep the agg exemption. x number of bee hives will give an agg exemption is someone has small property and needs an agg exemption in our county. I did not ask how many hives because we already have many of them around. The local Tax assessor dropped by last month and he saw some hives and brought it up in conversation.

We do hay for our ag exemption. Usually, if we see just 3 or 4 cows in a pasture, they're there for the ag exemption.

This guy runs an ad in almost every Pond Boss magazine issue.

You might enjoy talking to him and tell him you heard about
him on the Pond Boss forum.

I raise timber so fit under ag exemption.

Two questions.

First, if switch to wildlife exemption for deer, which the pond has definitely been a boon, could I get credit for pond expenses?

Second, if stay with timber ag exemption, I plan to have a controlled burn this winter to reduce competition for the pines. This was recommended by two timber guys who came out. Is this an expense that could be deducted somehow from my taxes?

These are the same questions that I have that probably need a cpa to answer.

In TEXAS

1. Yes you can get credit for one of the improvements that you are required to do, but that has nothing to do with $ expenses. It should be included in your management plan.

2. yes, controlled burn should be a deductible expense on tree farm.

BUT always get final approval from your accountant!

Brian
Can one write off feeding deer protein pellets and fish feed?

Dang sure can............ won't make it thru an IRS audit though

So that's a no then

The reason is this:

If I would normally pay (using my place as an example) $3500 a year in taxes. With the WLM, I pay about $600. (I have a cabin on my ranch otherwise we would be looking at about $75)

If I used protein pellets, I would use them whether I had the WLM or not as this is a hunting ranch and I want to improve the hunting, right?

So if they are giving me a tax break or about $2,900 a year if I use said pellets, it would be like double-dipping if I got another $300 off each year for using the pellets to qualify for the other $2,900.

There is a cost for saving money and, as folks have said before, you have to weigh the cost of what you would normally do vs what would be required.

This is why I tried to develop a plan that meets or exceeds the requirements but costs very little. Defeats the purpose if you pay the cost anyway, unless you just have money to burn.

Me, State employee.. every penny counts so I had a start-up cost of the water tanks and such, and now we are building 1500 gallon water catchment guzzlers, and those cost a little, but.. they are for the long term to spend less.

Anyway, just yakking. Look at what you do now. Look at what you want to do more of or less of, and then base the decision of WLM or AG based on that.

Russ

Russ, do you plant wildlife food plots year round and on a normal rainfall year do you get enough rain for growing plots for deer and turkey, quail and dove? South Texas can be a hunters paradise and there are some nice private lakes on some of the high fence places? We do yearly food plots as part of our management, it will very some years due to clover plots but we try to keep around 15 acres planted yr round .

We plant each fall, but not specifically for WLM qualification, albeit we list the work we do. Every bit shows and counts toward efforts made, so we add it, but there is very little solid dirt out there and the rainfall is hit or miss, so.. not sure how well it will qualify. We have a few nice areas where we plant soy beans or peas etc. The deer (and freakin hogs.. lol) love it and we enjoy going above and beyond.

As for water, I doubt we would be able to hold enough water and when it costs like 20-30 grand to dig a well, keeping a pond filled would be a major pain in the back end. We have about 330 acres, so we could add a pond down there, but the money to do that would be crazy, I am sure. Shame too

I think we have, maybe.. 1-2 acres of good dark soil that we plant each year... then we also have areas we just throw extra seed out just in case, but lots o' rock.. i.e. we are down SE of Rocksprings, TX.. heh...

Russ

This is getting into real accountant quick, but if you are raising(fish or deer) and or selling hunts with intent to make a profit I would say yes. My guess is you are not, and they are for personal use, so no. These gray areas are were red flags are thrown by IRS. If you have cattle, then it is feed and maybe not in the gray area....Depends on how it is listed on receipt if it would survive an audit. Bottom line if you aren't raising something for sale, then nothing is really deductible.

Russ is talking about paying lower state property tax, I'm talking federal tax deductions. Completely different

Yea, I do not deal with federal stuff... just state stuff as mine is for pleasure.. heh

Russ

That answers that..... thanks. Think I will keep the timber exemption for a while

I keep every expense receipt and turn it in to the cpa where he determines what can or can not be used for deductions. From my experience he does not like doing grey area write offs. Funny thing was 30 yrs ago when I first started in my business, I would tell him something, he would stick his fingers in his ears and say" I didn't hear that" lol I could be wrong, but what can not be written off now may be able to be deduced as improvement or investment if and when you sell the place. Another thing to look at would be taking your land and lease it for hunting. But the only one hunting the lease might be your personal club. There goes those fingers in the ears again