Tax Empowerment and Relief for Farmers and Fishermen (TERFF) Act
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Jun 27, 2001
Tax Empowerment and Relief for Farmers and Fishermen (TERFF) Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an eligible commercial farmer or commercial fisherman a deduction (up to 20 percent of taxable income attributable to such business) for the amount paid in cash into a Farm, Fishing, and Ranch Risk Management Account.Amends the Code and title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to exclude net earnings from a lease agreement (currently, an arrangement) from income with respect to farmland.Treats conservation reserve program payments as real estate rentals for self-employment earnings purposes.Exempt certain small issue agriculture bonds from the State volume cap.Sets forth a rule for determining the allowable deduction for a charitable contribution of food inventory.Extends income averaging to income from the trade or business of catching, taking, or harvesting fish intended to enter commerce through sale, barter, or trade. Disregards income averaging for farmers and commercial fishermen in computing the regular alternative minimum tax.Declares, with respect to the treatment of S corporations and to the tax exemption for farmers' cooperatives, that cooperative marketing includes the value-added processing of the products of cooperative members and other producers through animals that is by: (1) feeding such products to cattle, hogs, fish, chickens, or other animals; and then (2) selling the resulting animals or animal products.Authorizes a U.S. district court to issue a declaratory judgment relating to the initial or continuing qualification of a farmers' cooperative as tax-exempt.Provides, with respect to the small ethanol producer credit, for: (1) authorizing credit allocation among a cooperative's patrons; (2) increasing the gallon capacity for eligible producers; (3) making the credit a non-passive income credit; and (4) removing the credit from the alcohol fuel credit gross income inclusion.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Aug 19, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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