How to properly report ERTC for our family farm on 2025 taxes?

I run a small family farm in the midwest and I've been bombarded with emails, calls, and even actual mail about claiming the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) for our operation. For the last year and a half, these companies keep telling me how much "free money" we're leaving on the table because we kept our 3 farmhands employed during the rough seasons. I finally gave in and started looking into it, but now I'm confused about how to actually report this on our taxes. We're set up as an LLC that files on Schedule F. If we do qualify and get this credit, where exactly does it show up on our tax forms? Does it reduce our income? Is it a separate line item somewhere? We had about $230,000 in farm revenue last year but our margins are super tight. If there's legitimate money available through this ERTC thing, I want to make sure we do it right and don't mess up our taxes. Our accountant retired last year and I haven't found a replacement I trust yet. Has anyone here actually gone through the ERTC process for a farm business? What forms did you have to fill out, and how did it impact your tax filing?

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18 comments

Axel Far

•8M

The ERTC (Employee Retention Tax Credit) is legitimate but has unfortunately attracted a lot of predatory marketing. For farm operations, this credit can be substantial if you qualify, but you need to be careful about eligibility. For farms, you would have needed to experience either a full/partial suspension of operations due to government orders during the pandemic OR had a significant decline in gross receipts compared to 2019. The credit is claimed on Form 941-X (Adjusted Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return) for the relevant quarters, not directly on your Schedule F. When you receive the credit, it's generally considered taxable income in the year received. So if you receive an ERTC refund in 2025 for prior year claims, you'd report it as "other income" on your 2025 Schedule F. This effectively reduces the tax benefit, but it's still substantial.

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Axel Far

•8M

For 2020, you needed a 50% reduction in quarterly gross receipts compared to the same quarter in 2019. For 2021, that threshold was lowered to a 20% reduction. If you had mixed results with some good quarters and some bad quarters, you can claim the credit only for the eligible quarters where you met the reduction threshold. Each quarter stands on its own for eligibility purposes. Many farms had uneven results during this period, so it's worth analyzing each quarter separately to see which ones qualify.

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Luis Johnson

•8M

After spending weeks trying to figure out the ERTC for our orchard business, I finally found taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it saved me so much headache. Their system analyzed our quarterly payroll data and gave me a clear breakdown of exactly which quarters we qualified for and how to document everything properly. The best part was that they flagged that one of the quarters I thought qualified actually didn't meet the threshold requirements, which saved me from potentially filing an incorrect claim. They even helped me understand how to properly report the credit on our taxes once we receive it. Definitely worth checking out if you're trying to navigate ERTC for your farm.

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Luis Johnson

•8M

You upload your quarterly 941 forms and they analyze them to determine eligibility based on your specific situation. They use bank-level encryption so all documents are secure - I was nervous about that too but their security info put me at ease. They're different because they don't take a percentage of your refund like most ERTC companies do. They just provide analysis and documentation, then you can take that to your accountant or file yourself. They don't file the forms for you but they provide step-by-step guidance on completing the 941-X forms correctly. In my case, it showed exactly which lines needed to be amended and by how much.

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Fiona Sand

•8M

Just wanted to follow up - I tried taxr.ai for our cattle ranch's ERTC analysis and it was incredibly helpful! The system flagged that two of our quarters qualified but also warned us that one quarter I was hoping to claim wouldn't meet IRS requirements. The documentation package they generated made it super clear how much we could legitimately claim. Our local accountant was impressed with how thorough the analysis was. We're expecting about $47,000 in ERTC refunds for the eligible quarters, which is going to help us upgrade some equipment we've been putting off. Definitely beats paying some ERTC "specialist" 20-30% of our refund just to file the paperwork!

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Mohammad Khaled

•8M

Has anyone here tried calling the IRS directly about ERTC questions? I tried five times last month and couldn't get through to anyone who could answer farm-specific ERTC questions. After wasting hours on hold, I found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) through a farming forum and tried their service to get connected to an actual IRS agent. You can see a demo of how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c It was a game-changer - they got me through to a real person at the IRS who confirmed our eligibility criteria and answered all my questions about how farms specifically need to handle ERTC claims. Saved me from making some mistakes on our submission. The agent was able to confirm which quarters we could legitimately claim and the documentation requirements for farm businesses.

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Mohammad Khaled

•8M

It uses automated technology to wait on hold for you, then calls you when an IRS agent picks up. I was skeptical too, but it worked exactly as advertised - I got a call back when an agent was on the line and didn't have to sit through the hold music for hours. I haven't received my refund yet, but that's because the IRS is currently processing ERTC claims very slowly - taking 9-12 months in many cases. What I got was confirmation directly from an IRS agent about our farm's eligibility and the proper way to document our claim, which was invaluable. The point wasn't to speed up the refund but to get accurate information straight from the source.

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Finnegan Gunn

•8M

I need to apologize and correct myself. After being skeptical about Claimyr, I decided to try it for myself when I couldn't get through to the IRS about our greenhouse operation's ERTC questions. Within 45 minutes, I was actually speaking with an IRS agent who specialized in business credits. The agent clarified that our seasonal worker situation did qualify for certain quarters, and explained exactly how to document our greenhouse's partial suspension due to capacity restrictions. I've submitted our 941-X forms with the proper documentation, and while I'm still waiting on the refund (like everyone else), I'm confident we've filed correctly. Sometimes it pays to be open-minded about new solutions!

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Miguel Harvey

•8M

Be super careful with ERTC claims for farms! My neighbor got bamboozled by one of those ERTC "specialist" companies that promised huge refunds. They filed claims for quarters when his farm actually had INCREASED revenue compared to 2019. Now he's facing an audit and potential penalties. The legitimate quarters for ERTC can be valuable, but filing for quarters you don't qualify for is basically asking for trouble. The IRS has specifically said they're targeting fraudulent ERTC claims. Make sure you have solid documentation showing either the revenue decline OR specific government orders that affected your farm operations.

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Miguel Harvey

•8M

There can absolutely be a downside! The penalties can include repayment of the full credit amount plus a 20% accuracy-related penalty, interest on the repaid amounts, and potentially a 75% penalty for fraudulent claims in worst-case scenarios. These ERTC companies claiming "no downside" are being dishonest. They get their commission upfront, while you're left dealing with the IRS for years if there's an audit. The IRS has explicitly made ERTC abuse an enforcement priority, so the risks are very real. Only file for quarters where you truly meet the eligibility requirements and can document it.

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Oliver Cheng

•8M

Just a heads up for anyone filing ERTC for their farm - the actual process is a bit complex. You need to: 1) Determine eligibility for each quarter (either revenue decline OR government shutdown impact) 2) Calculate qualified wages for eligible employees 3) File Form 941-X for each quarter you're amending 4) Include a detailed statement explaining your eligibility reason 5) Keep ALL supporting documentation for at least 4 years For our berry farm, the most tedious part was documenting how the social distancing requirements impacted our U-pick operation. We had to gather all the local health orders and explain how they reduced our capacity.

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