The federal government has expanded its list of drought-affected areas where producers of breeding livestock can defer some of their sale income for the 2009 income tax year.
Added Tuesday to the list of designated areas were 47 census subdivisions in B.C., 28 communities in Alberta and eight rural municipalities in Saskatchewan.
“These additional tax deferrals will put money back in the pockets of the producers whose operations are suffering due to the cool, dry season,” federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said in a release.
The tax deferral allows eligible livestock producers in designated areas, including the newly-added ones listed below, to defer income tax on the sale of breeding stock for one year.
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In areas where drought designations continue for consecutive years, producers can continue to defer that sales income to the first year in which the area is no longer designated.
Eligible producers can request the deferral when they file their 2009 income tax returns.
Producers whose breeding stock sales have reduced their herds by at least 15 per cent are eligible. Thirty per cent of income from net sales can be deferred if the herd has been reduced by at least 15 per cent but less than 30 per cent. If a herd has been reduced by 30 per cent or more, 90 per cent of income from net sales can be deferred.
Forage yield information won’t be available until later in the year but designations can be made earlier in the year based primarily on spring moisture conditions and estimates of forage yield, the government said Tuesday.
In these instances, central Alberta, B.C.’s central interior and west-central Saskatchewan have experienced “very dry” conditions since last summer, the government said.
“Fall precipitation was not adequate to recharge soil moisture and combined with an extremely low snow accumulation this past winter, spring soil moisture conditions were poor,” the government said. “Well below normal temperatures and continued dry conditions throughout the spring have resulted in very poor pasture and forage development.”
Alberta communities added Tuesday to the list of designated areas include Athabasca, Barrhead, Birch Hills, Brazeau, Clear Hills, Clearwater, Lac la Biche, Lac Ste. Anne, Mountain View, Rocky View, Smoky Lake, St. Paul, Thorhild, Westlock, Wheatland and Woodlands counties; the municipal districts of Big Lakes, Bonnyville, Fairview, Greenview, Lesser Slave River, Northern Lights, Peace, Smoky River and Spirit River; the Town of Drumheller; and the Cities of Calgary and Edmonton.
B.C. census subdivisions designated Tuesday include Cariboo D, E, G and K; Central Kootenay A through E, G, H, J and K; Central Okanagan and Central Okanagan J; Columbia-Shuswap C through F; Kootenay Boundary B through E; North Okanagan B, D, E and F; Okanagan-Similkameen A through H; Spallumcheen; Squamish-Lillooet A through C; and Thompson-Nicola E, I, J and L through P, which include Bonaparte Plateau, Blue Sky Country, Copper Desert Country, Lower North Thompson and Rivers and the Peaks.
Saskatchewan rural municipalities designated Tuesday include Lone Tree, Wood River, Grassy Creek, Gravelbourg, Bone Creek, Webb, Chaplin and Shamrock.
Previously designated communities for the 2009 tax year include 76 Saskatchewan RMs and 26 counties, districts and special areas in Alberta.
The government in July expanded the tax deferral program to include regions suffering from excess moisture as well as those under drought conditions. Four Manitoba RMs have been designated so far for the 2009 tax year.
