Hire a CPA. It will be well worth it, and they don’t even need to know horses.
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there are some specific deprecation schedules that are only for farm/ranch/horse production that are unique to the industry
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Yes, but most CPAs are aware of this and will research the issue.
Source: I am one.
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Wouldn’t a CPA be overkill for two part-time employees?
Any ballpark idea of the cost?
Yes it might be overkill if you don’t file a schedule “F” and you consider your horse “business” a lunacy (like I do) and don’t try to tell the IRS that it is a business. But in that case there are payroll services for small businesses that are not CPA’s and I would price that service. And I am sure that there are software programs that would do the calculations for you. But you still need to make the TT&L deposits for state and federal. I would assume that those payments can now be paid online and no more trips to the bank. There is/was a niche industry that catered to those persons that didn’t want to deal with all that busywork.
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I used to be part-owner of a small business and even though we only had a few employees, after we looked at the paperwork and what we would have to do to do it all ourselves, we immediately signed up with one of the payroll services. It was well worth the money.
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Are you offering your employees any benefits?
If so, I’d look at Gusto which was meant for small businesses. Easy automatic payroll that you set and forget. SS withheld, taxes paid, W-2’s sent to employees, etc. You could hire an hourly CPA to look at the books quarterly/be sure you’re filing what ought to be filed for state tax compliance (workers comp comes to mind). You could also just use corpnet as a DIY solution which syncs into Gusto. Benefits are also available and administered if you want to offer them (like healthcare, dental, etc).
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their services for tax preparation and planning is invaluable, my use of CPAs never cost me anything as the savings outweighed the cost by a long shot
they are up to date with current and proposed IRS codes which allowed me to remain focused on my businesses
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While these questions may seem intrusive, all of your answers will determine how you run your place.
What is your experience with horses?
What disciplines have you practiced?
Do you own your own horses?
If so, how many of your 20 stalls will you need for boarders?
How much turnout do you have?
What kind of maintenance does the place need?
What pieces of equipment do you have?
Does it snow and freeze where you live?
Is there an indoor arena?
Was the place a going concern before?
I have many more questions before I can be of much help.
I own a land and think about it to make that happen if every things sound for me. thats why I am asking ppl who has experience to know from where I should start and how to look at it.
they are costly in my state and city !
Barn management software makes more sense to me.
So you have land and no buildings?
Are you looking to build a business plan from a horse magazine forum? How deep are your pockets? What’s your taxation situation?
While this forum is riven with experienced horse owning, training, boarding, and selling professionals, it seems to me that you might want to hire one or more of them as consultants. Expertise is valuable.
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I grab info from everywhere possible. Forrum is one of them but not the only one. However, I asked many experienced ppl to leave their comments on my questions for the end-of-the-day comparison.
One thing that no one really knows yet is just how the new and increasing Federal mandates on overtime pay is going to affect the operations as there has not been any clear definition of what class a barn’s operation will fall under.
A barn that is severing as a boarding/training operation surely will not fall into an agricultural class.
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Before going forward, have you taken a look at probable discretionary income of residents within a reasonable driving distance, like under an hour, of your land location?
If you build it, they may not come. Maybe not enough locals can afford it. Maybe its hard to get to, especially in winter or just too far to drive to see/ride/train/care for the horse regularly. Horses are expensive. People work, kids are in school, barn time is limited. Are there enough locals interested in barn work to allow you to hire help?
Can your area support a boarding barn business?
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These are great points. Where there is land, there are not always clients. Location will also determine the TYPE of client - facilities for different disciplines (reiners or barrel racers needs are not usually compatible with dressage or H/J requirements), full service show barn with trainers vs cheap bare bones boarding.
How close are you to a ‘major metropolitan city’, OP? Are there other boarding barns in the area that seem to be full/waitlisted? Aka is there demand? This will determine what a boarding business needs or can support, and then the questions go from there. You need a starting point to determine the rest.
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This is a terrific answer.
I worked at a racing stable with 40 matted stalls and waterers, where mucking was done onto a conveyer belt that ran behind the stalls and emptied into a parked dump truck. Rebedding was done with a small front end loader, the shed row was carefully designed so no posts blocked a stall door. One bucket load of shavings per stall, done. Hay and feed were similarly efficient, there was a walkway over the conveyor where you pushed a hay cart of feed cart. You never actually had to enter the stalls to hay/feed. When stalls were done, the whole riverstone yard was dragged with a chain harrow - no hand raking. (Though I did miss making the pretty herringbone pattern in the shed row - a little.)
2 people could do the whole barn in a morning.
I also worked in a converted dairy barn without mats, 12 small dark stalls, cracked, pitted aisles, mucked into a wheelbarrow that had to be pushed to a muck pile. It would take me to noon to finish the barn, 1 PM if I had to rebed.
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As a classroom teacher and, since just before the COVID-19 lockdown, a barn worker and fill-in riding instructor at a private school with 50 horses spread over two campuses, I have to reiterate that the design and equipment make for critical variables.
During school breaks, when almost half the horses were turned out, we had 26 geriatric or otherwise fragile or gimpy horses in the barn. In teams two of we cleaned, medicated, turned out, groomed, (we rode our own horses instead of eating lunch) and fed again. Because our school would not pay overtime unless a horse was sick, we had to do this all between the hours of 7 am and 3 pm. It was every bit a full time job because of the layout of the barn and turnouts.
As I have done this work in California and Maine, I have to add that climate matters, too. Just rain here in relatively mild California meant shutting the horses in their stalls, cleaning twice, and hand walking as many as we could manage. A wet December week in California would’ve taken three or maybe four people per day in frigid, snowy New England.
The personal groom arrangement seems not to be on the OP’s radar. Horse owners at many sizeable facilities here in California hire a groom for their horse(s), and he or she takes care of all the horses’ needs, often working for several people/horses in the same facility. I believe these are flat rates of up to around $1500 per month per horse. (I have no idea if that is a realistic number. Please, someone correct me if I’m wrong.)
Also, @clanter, is this true?
A barn that is severing as a boarding/training operation surely will not fall into an agricultural class.
Horse farms have been tax write-offs for generations, as I understand it, they fall into some nether space between ag land use and covenanted open land. My best guess is it depends on local laws and the ability of your accountant to work the system.
Lastly, everyone who works overtime should be paid overtime. If you can’t afford to pay your employees, you’re doing your own job wrong.
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Not questioning the federal rule.
I wonder whether horse-related activities will be an “agriculture class.” I’m inferring from your post that agriculture gets a pass, as it often does, and will not have to comply.
As I said, overtime is overtime, whether you’re shoveling coal or horse manure.
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