SECTION 180 TAX DEDUCTION

FieldVana – Helping landowners turn soil fertility into real tax savings.

Transform Soil Nutrients Into Tax Deductions

FieldVana’s Legacy Nutrient Deductions™ program uses agronomy, geospatial data, and valuation analytics to help landowners capture income tax deductions tied to the nutrient value embedded in their cropland or ranchland.

If you have purchased or inherited agricultural land since the early 2000s, your soils may contain “legacy” nutrients that can potentially be depreciated—often resulting in thousands of dollars in tax savings per parcel.

Typical outcomes: often around $1,700 per acre in identified deductions, depending on facts and circumstances.

Most producers and land investors are familiar with writing off improvements like:

  • Fences
  • Irrigation systems
  • Buildings and other capital structures

But many have never evaluated the fertility they acquired with the land itself. Under specific provisions of federal tax law, certain pre‑existing soil nutrients may be treated similarly to other depreciable assets—if they are properly measured and valued.

FieldVana’s role is to provide the technical, agronomic, and valuation support you and your CPA need to assess whether a soil‑based deduction may apply and to document it if it does.

Learn How It Works

What Are Legacy Nutrient Deductions™?

Legacy Nutrient Deductions™ are potential tax deductions based on the value of fertilizer nutrients already present in your soil at the time you acquired your land. When these legacy nutrients are:

Measured with a defensible sampling plan
Converted into economic value at the date of acquisition
Documented in a manner aligned with applicable tax rules

they may support a tax deduction strategy that can materially reduce taxable income.

In our recent feature in The Land Report, we walk through:

  • Eligibility Criteria
    Which types of cropland and grazing land are typically considered, and what kinds of transactions may qualify.
  • Benefits To Landowners & Investors
    How these deductions can help smooth the sale or purchase of land, support more competitive bids, and strengthen after‑tax returns.
  • FieldVana’s Three Phase Method
    1. On‑farm soil sampling and mapping
    2. Nutrient load and value calculation
    3. Detailed reporting for use by tax professionals
Download the Overview PDF

Who We Serve

Federal tax rules allow purchasers of agricultural land, under certain conditions, to depreciate the value of some fertilizer ingredients that were already present in the soil when they took ownership. To do this credibly, landowners must know:

1. How much pre‑existing fertility is present (by nutrient), and

2. What that fertility was worth at the time they acquired the land.

FieldVana focuses on these two problems: measurement and valuation.

We work with a broad range of agricultural stakeholders, including:

  • Owner Operators & Farm/Ranch Families
  • Institutional & Individual Land Investors
  • Farm & Ranch Real Estate Brokers
  • Banks and Agricultural Lenders
  • CPA Firms, Tax Advisors, and Wealth Managers
See How It Applies To You

Why Clients Choose FieldVana

FieldVana combines:

  • Field tested soil sampling methods
  • Advanced fertility load modeling
  • Historical nutrient pricing databases
  • Structured, CPA friendly reporting

Our approach has been reviewed and utilized by:

  • Large regional and national accounting firms
  • Agricultural lenders and financial institutions
  • Brokerage and land management firms focused on rural assets

Our process is transparent, thoroughly documented, and designed to be understandable to both agronomists and tax professionals.

Our Core Workflow

1. Field Sampling & Mapping
We design a sampling grid and depth profile suited to your soils and cropping systems.

2. Nutrient Load & Value Calculation
We quantify nutrients per acre and model their likely fair market value at the date of your acquisition.

3. Reporting For Tax Professionals
We compile the analysis into a detailed report designed to support potential deductions that may be available under IRS rules (often involving Section 180 and related guidance, as determined by your tax advisor).

FieldVana’s Turnkey Service Package

FieldVana offers an end to end solution for landowners exploring soil based deductions tied to recently acquired farmland.

  • Assessment & Planning

    Assessment & Planning.

    • Review of your land purchases and ownership structures
    • Determination of which parcels are good candidates for further analysis
    • Design of a soil sampling protocol focused on key macro‑ and micronutrients
  • Soil Sampling

    Soil Sampling.

    • Multi‑depth sampling strategy to capture nutrients in plant‑available and deeper zones
    • Sampling conducted by FieldVana agronomists or vetted partners
    • Sampling timed appropriately within the crop cycle to ensure reliable data

    For older acquisitions, we can also work from more recent soil tests, yield data, and fertilizer application history to back calculate estimated fertility levels at the time of purchase using proprietary models.

  • Fertility Load Analysis

    Fertility Load Analysis.

    • Calculation of Soil Fertility Load (volume of legacy nutrients)
    • Use of historical nutrient price data, adjusted for time and region, to estimate value at the acquisition date
    • Integration of all agronomic and economic assumptions into a coherent valuation model
  • Reporting

    Reporting.

    A full written report documenting:

    • Sampling design and locations
    • Lab results and interpretations
    • Fertility load calculations
    • Value estimates and supporting data sources

    Your CPA or tax advisor uses this report to determine whether and how to pursue soil‑based deductions, including those typically associated with IRS Section 180 and related provisions.

Assessment & Planning.

  • Review of your land purchases and ownership structures
  • Determination of which parcels are good candidates for further analysis
  • Design of a soil sampling protocol focused on key macro‑ and micronutrients

Soil Sampling.

  • Multi‑depth sampling strategy to capture nutrients in plant‑available and deeper zones
  • Sampling conducted by FieldVana agronomists or vetted partners
  • Sampling timed appropriately within the crop cycle to ensure reliable data

For older acquisitions, we can also work from more recent soil tests, yield data, and fertilizer application history to back calculate estimated fertility levels at the time of purchase using proprietary models.

Fertility Load Analysis.

  • Calculation of Soil Fertility Load (volume of legacy nutrients)
  • Use of historical nutrient price data, adjusted for time and region, to estimate value at the acquisition date
  • Integration of all agronomic and economic assumptions into a coherent valuation model

Reporting.

A full written report documenting:

  • Sampling design and locations
  • Lab results and interpretations
  • Fertility load calculations
  • Value estimates and supporting data sources

Your CPA or tax advisor uses this report to determine whether and how to pursue soil‑based deductions, including those typically associated with IRS Section 180 and related provisions.

Farmland Eligibility – General Guidelines

While your CPA or tax counsel must make final determinations, FieldVana generally sees the following patterns:

Situations often consistent with eligibility:

  • Land acquired after December 31, 1958
  • Land obtained through purchase, exchange, or inheritance
  • Land actively used for crop production, haying, or grazing where soil nutrients are applied and utilized

Situations often inconsistent with eligibility:

  • Land acquired purely as a gift
  • Land enrolled in certain long term conservation or idling programs (for example, some tracts in the Conservation Reserve Program) where fertility is not being used in typical production, depending on specific program terms and facts

Each property is unique, so we encourage landowners to share our findings with their tax professionals for a case by case evaluation.

Valuing Residual Soil Fertility

Residual soil fertility can be addressed in two main ways from a tax documentation perspective:

  • Allocation Within The Purchase Agreement

    Allocation Within The Purchase Agreement.

    • Buyers and sellers may agree to allocate a portion of the purchase price to existing soil fertility.
    • This requires explicit agreement between parties and inclusion in the contract.
    • In many real world transactions, this allocation is simply never discussed or itemized.
  • Independent Third Party Analysis

    Independent Third Party Analysis.

    • If no allocation was made when the deal closed, a separate valuation can be performed later.
    • This typically involves a qualified independent expert producing a written analysis of Soil Fertility Load and its reasonable value.
    • FieldVana’s service is specifically designed to provide the agronomic and valuation support needed for this type of appraisal and to document it in a way tax professionals can use.

Allocation Within The Purchase Agreement.

  • Buyers and sellers may agree to allocate a portion of the purchase price to existing soil fertility.
  • This requires explicit agreement between parties and inclusion in the contract.
  • In many real world transactions, this allocation is simply never discussed or itemized.

Independent Third Party Analysis.

  • If no allocation was made when the deal closed, a separate valuation can be performed later.
  • This typically involves a qualified independent expert producing a written analysis of Soil Fertility Load and its reasonable value.
  • FieldVana’s service is specifically designed to provide the agronomic and valuation support needed for this type of appraisal and to document it in a way tax professionals can use.

How Landowners Realize Value

FieldVana’s reports are used by clients and their CPAs in several ways, depending on when the land was acquired and how ownership is structured.