IFAI and Law School Create Ways to Help Native Farmers With Tax Challenges in Indian Country

In the latest episode of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative's (IFAI) podcast, Rooted Wisdom: Exploring Tribal Agriculture, host Tish Mindemann explores resources developed by the U of A Law School and IFAI to support Native producers and tax professionals navigate the nuances of tax and asset management in Indian Country through the Agricultural Financial, Tax and Asset Protection (AgFTAP) program.   

Guests Kristiana Coutu, IFAI's director of policy, research and Tribal governance; and Kelly Nuckolls, assistant director and visiting assistant professor of law for the LL.M. program in agricultural and food law at the U of A, offer insights into the program and touch on the challenges faced by Tribal producers in accessing knowledgeable tax professionals.  

"One of the reasons that agricultural income taxation gets so difficult, and can be complicated, is because there's no one size fits all," Coutu said. "Every circumstance is going to be different depending on the producer and the type of income they're receiving."  

Coutu is an essential part of developing materials on small farm income tax and asset protection issues. IFAI and others use these materials to train agricultural educators, tax professionals and farmers, providing them with the knowledge needed to confront the challenge of agricultural income taxation.  

Nuckolls said tax and asset management "is an area where farmers are continuing to see costly mistakes, either because they're unable to access trained professionals for a number of reasons, or the trained professional they're going to is not well versed in the nuances of agricultural income tax."  

Producers can help avoid costly asset management mistakes by participating in upcoming educational opportunities through the AgFTAP program, including webinars and seminars focused on agricultural taxation's impact on Indian Country. Use the link bit.ly/AgFTAPUARK to access these resources.   

Sign up to receive notifications on IFAI's tax and asset resources at bit.ly/IFAITAX2024. For more information, contact IFAI at agpolicy@uark.edu.