Manitoba Beef Producers welcomes announcement of Livestock Tax Deferral

Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) is welcoming this week's announcement regarding an initial list of designated regions across the Prairies where Livestock Tax Deferral has been authorized for 2022 due to extreme weather conditions.

MBP General Manager Carson Callum explained how producers benefit.

"If they had to sell a larger portion of their herd, more than their usual annual marketings, they're obviously going to have some tax implications with that," he said. "So being able to defer some of the income into a year where they may have purchased some of those animals back to offset that and not have such a great tax implication is really the benefit of the program. It really helps in those years where, like last year, there's a great deal of selloff due to drought."

Under the Livestock Tax Deferral, to defer income, the breeding herd must have been reduced by at least 15%.

"This is just related to the breeding herd and both provincial cattle associations, as well as the Canadian Cattle Association, have been advocating for quite some time to expand this program into other classes of cattle. Backgrounding, for example because, they're also impacted by having to sell off as a result of feed shortages," added Callum.

The Government of Canada will reevaluate the list later in the year and determine if any areas need to be added due to weather related impacts that may cause a significant selloff in producers' herds.