If you have damaged timber on your property from the spring ice storm, a workshop this weekend can teach you how to claim the loss on your taxes.
Whether landowners own one acre or 200, they may be eligible to claim a deduction on federal income taxes.
The Michigan Forest Association is hosting a workshop this weekend in Gaylord led by Karen Potter-Witter, a professor emerita of forest economics at Michigan State University.
"There's a lot of information out there. The problem is that is can be pretty dense for people who aren't used to the timber tax code," Potter-Witter said. "I've done work in timber taxes for decades. I used to say that I know more about an obscure part of the tax code than most people ever want to know."
This weekend, it'll come in handy: Potter-Witter will help timber land owners determine if they're eligible for a tax deduction and walk them through the process.
She says landowners should bring as many records as possible, especially ones related to land ownership or inheritance, past timber sales and reforestation.
"The people who would be able to get the biggest tax deduction are ones who acquired their timber land, say, in the last five or 10 years, and had a salvage sale [after the ice storm], but it was fairly small, or they weren't able to have a salvage sale," Potter-Witter said.
Landowners can attend the workshop in person at Jay’s Sporting Goods in Gaylord on Sunday, Nov. 9 from 12 to 3 p.m. or by video call. Register here.
Potter-Witter said a video recording will be available, along with other timber tax resources, on the Michigan Forest Association website.
