[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 26, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 26CFR1.175-5]

[Page 206-207]
 
                       TITLE 26--INTERNAL REVENUE
 
    CHAPTER I--INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 
                               (CONTINUED)
 
PART 1_INCOME TAXES--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 1.175-5  Percentage limitation and carryover.

    (a) The limitation--(1) General rule. The amount of soil and water 
conservation expenditures which the taxpayer may deduct under section 
175 in any one taxable year is limited to 25 percent of his ``gross 
income from farming''.
    (2) Definition of ``gross income from farming.'' For the purpose of 
section 175, the term gross income from farming means the gross income 
of the taxpayer, derived in ``the business of farming'' as defined in 
Sec. 1.175-3, from the production of crops, fruits, or other 
agricultural products, including fish, or from livestock (including 
livestock held for draft, breeding, or dairy purposes). It includes such 
income from land used in farming other than that upon which expenditures 
are made for soil or water conservation or for the prevention of erosion 
of land. It does not include gains from sales of assets such as farm 
machinery or gains from the disposition of land. A taxpayer shall 
compute his ``gross income from farming'' in accordance with his 
accounting method used in determining gross income. (See the regulations 
under section 61 relating to accounting methods used by farmers in 
determining gross income.) The provisions of this subparagraph may be 
illustrated by the following example:

    Example. A, who uses the cash receipts and disbursements method of 
accounting, includes in his ``gross income from farming'' for purposes 
of determining the 25-percent limitation the following items:

Proceeds from sale of his 1955 yield of corn.................    $10,000
Gain from disposition of old breeding cows replaced by               500
 younger cows................................................
                                                              ----------
    Total gross income from farming..........................     10,500


    A must exclude from ``gross income from farming'' the following 
items which are included in his gross income:

Gain from sale of tractor....................................       $100
Gain from sale of 40 acres of taxpayer's farm................      8,000
                                                              ----------
Interest on loan to neighboring farmer.......................        100


    (3) Deduction qualifies for net operating loss deduction. Any amount 
allowed as a deduction under section 175, either for the year in which 
the expenditure is paid or incurred or for the year to which it is 
carried, is taken into account in computing a net operating loss for 
such taxable year. If a deduction for soil or water conservation 
expenditures has been taken into account in computing a net operating 
loss carryback or carryover, it shall not be considered a soil or water 
conservation expenditure for the year to which the loss is carried, and 
therefore, is not subject to the 25-percent limitation for that year. 
The provisions of this subparagraph may be illustrated by the following 
example:

    Example. Assume that in 1956 A has gross income from farming of 
$4,000, soil and water conservation expenditures of $1,600 and 
deductible farm expenses of $3,500. Of the soil and water conservation 
expenditures $1,000 is deductible in 1956. The $600 in excess of 25 
percent of A's gross income from farming is carried over into 1957. 
Assuming that A has no other income, his deductions of $4,500 ($1,000 
plus $3,500) exceed his gross income of $4,000 by $500. This $500 will 
constitute a net operating loss which he must carry back two years and 
carry forward five years, until it has offset $500 of taxable income. No 
part of

[[Page 207]]

this $500 net operating loss carryback or carryover will be taken into 
account in determining the amount of soil and water conservation 
expenditures in the years to which it is carried.

    (b) Carryover of expenditures in excess of deduction. The deduction 
for soil and water conservation expenditures in any one taxable year is 
limited to 25 percent of the taxpayer's gross income from farming. The 
taxpayer may carry over the excess of such expenditures over 25 percent 
of his gross income from farming into his next taxable year, and, if not 
deductible in that year, into the next year, and so on without limit as 
to time. In determining the deductible amount of such expenditures for 
any taxable year, the actual expenditures of that year shall be added to 
any such expenditures carried over from prior years, before applying the 
25-percent limitation. Any such expenditures in excess of the deductible 
amount may be carried over during the taxpayer's entire existence. For 
this purpose in a farm partnership, since the 25-percent limitation is 
applied to each partner, not the partnership, the carryover may be 
carried forward during the life of the partner. The provisions of this 
paragraph may be illustrated by the following example:

    Example. Assume the expenditures and income shown in the following 
table:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                      Deductible soil
                                                                         and water
                                                                        conservation               25
                                                                        expenditures            percent   Excess
                                                                    -------------------            of     to be
                                Year                                  Paid or  Carried   Total   gross   carried
                                                                     incurred  forward           income  forward
                                                                      during     from             from
                                                                      taxable   prior           farming
                                                                       year      year
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1954...............................................................     $900      None    $900     $800     $100
1955...............................................................    1,000      $100   1,100      900      200
1956...............................................................     None       200     200    1,000     None
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The deduction for 1954 is limited to $800. The remainder, $100 ($900 
minus $800), not being deductible for 1954, is a carryover to 1955. For 
1955, accordingly, the total of the expenditures to be taken into 
account is $1,100 (the $100 carryover and the $1,000 actually paid in 
that year). The deduction for 1955 is limited to $900, and the remainder 
of the $1,100 total, or $200, is a carryover to 1956. The deduction for 
1956 consists solely of this carryover of $200. Since the total 
expenditures, actual and carried-over, for 1956 are less than 25 percent 
of gross income from farming, there is no carryover into 1957.

[T.D. 6500, 25 FR 11402, Nov. 26, 1960, as amended by T.D. 6649, 28 FR 
3762, Apr. 18, 1963]