The Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives (WFC) has announced continuing good news about the Wisconsin Dairy Farm Investment Tax Credit (DITC), which WFC was instrumental in drafting and advancing successfully through the 2003-2004 legislative session. The credit equals up to 10-percent of the amount a producer spends on dairy farm modernization or expansion.

The Department of Revenue has just completed a tabulation of credits claimed during the 2005 tax year, which was the second year of eligibility for the credit. The total claimed by 8,796 producers was almost $42 million, of which almost $38 million was claimed by 8,413 individual income tax filings and more than $4 million was claimed via 383 corporate income tax filings. Almost $14.5 million was used to offset taxes owed in 2005, and the balance is eligible to be carried forward to the taxpayers’ 2006 or future returns. The tax credits taken to date mean at least a $565 million reinvestment in Wisconsin dairy farms. This is a huge economic boost to the state of Wisconsin.

The DITC has been expanded to include eligible investments on livestock operations in addition to dairy farms, and the livestock farm investment credit is available for taxable years 2007 through 2011. The dairy investment tax credit was begun for tax year 2005 and will end in tax year 2009.