In brief: October 5, 2020

Nareit Hawaii donates $100K to fund HSTA program

Nareit Hawaii has donated $100,000 to fund a program that provides Hawaii public school teachers with information, guidance, and resources to support their opportunities with owning or renting a home while dealing with the impacts of COVID-19.

The program, presented by the Hawaii HomeOwnership Center, launches Wednesday with a series of workshops that are being provided free of charge to all Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA) members statewide. The workshops cover a range of topics vital for teachers to maintain a healthy and happy home life, including homeownership, rental counseling, and foreclosure prevention. HSTA members will receive self-help tools, guided support, and individual coaching to address issues specific to their home situation.

Visit www.hsta.org/hihomeownership for more information.

Nareit Hawaii is the local office of Nareit, the worldwide representative voice for real estate investment trusts (REITs) and publicly traded real estate companies with an interest in U.S. real estate and capital markets.

Drought-stricken farmers, ranchers have more time to replace livestock

Farmers and ranchers forced to sell livestock due to drought may have an additional year to replace the livestock and defer tax on any gains from the forced sales, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

To qualify for relief, the farm or ranch must be in an applicable region, which includes Hawaii and Maui counties.

The relief generally applies to capital gains realized by eligible farmers and ranchers on sales of livestock held for draft, dairy or breeding purposes. Sales of other livestock, such as those raised for slaughter or held for sporting purposes, or poultry, are not eligible.

To qualify, the sales must be solely due to drought, flooding or other severe weather causing the region to be designated as eligible for federal assistance. Livestock generally must be replaced within a four-year period, instead of the usual two-year period. The IRS is also authorized to further extend this replacement period if the drought continues.

The one-year extension, announced in the notice, gives eligible farmers and ranchers until the end of the tax year after the first drought-free year to replace the sold livestock. Details, including an example of how this provision works, can be found in Notice 2006-82 PDF, available on IRS.gov.

The IRS provides this extension to farms and ranches located in the applicable region that qualified for the four-year replacement period if any county that is included in the applicable region is listed as suffering exceptional, extreme or severe drought conditions during any week between Sept. 1, 2019, and Aug. 31.