Explore our FREE tax organizers for Farmers

The IRS says you’re a farmer if you “cultivate, operate or manage a farm for profit, either as an owner or a tenant.” Farms include plantations, ranches, ranges, orchards and groves, and you can raise livestock, fish or poultry, or grow fruits and vegetables.

But your backyard produce sales probably won’t qualify you as a farmer for tax purposes — especially if you also work a full-time job that’s not farming-related. Instead, the IRS would likely consider the money you make from your victory garden as hobby income, since you don’t depend on that income for your livelihood.

As a result, you wouldn’t have access to the tax breaks the IRS affords farmers.

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