I originally posted this on another forum also, so some of this might not
follow logically.  What I want to do is say what I learned as I drove
around town today.  Somebody said that I needed to get a farm ID number
from Farm Bureau.  Well, I had only known them to sell insurance.  But I
went there, they did not laugh in my face but told me to go to FSA, I
think meaning the USDA Farm Service Agency.  So I went there, picked up
some brochures, and talked to a nice lady that told me since I did not
have cropland that I could not be helped there.  She did point me to the
other end of the hall where our county agents are along with the 4-H
people.  I volunteered to teach 4-H kids this summer while waiting for an
agent.  The agent I talked to was more of a landscape planting guy and
pointed me to someone else.  This someone else helped me previously with
info on restricted pesticide licensing and swarm retrieval.  He also has
family that earn their living in FL as beekeepers and he enjoys a good
homebrew!  Anyway, he got on the phone to some university people and we
had a nice speaker phone chat.  Here is what I learned:  1.  A federal and
state tax ID are required if set up as a business, likely not if you
operate as sole proprietorship (per publication 225 of US Govt IRS).  2.
THe US Census considers you a farmer if you earn $1,000 dollars from your
farm.  3.  To qualify as a farmer for IRS and receive most favored status,
2/3 of your income as to be earned from you farm.  4.  You do not have to
pay sales tax on wholesaled honey/farm products.  5.  You do not need to
pay sales tax on honey sold at the farm.  6.  If > 50% of retail honey
sold is off the farm (markets, job, roadside stand)  then sales tax has to
be paid.  If this does not apply, then good record keeping was stressed.
This requires a sales tax ID and quarterly payments unless the 2/3 income
rule is met.  7.  There was soem discussion as to what I could qualify for
as far as reduced payments of tax, but is was a lengthy document that they
were going to email a link to me ("North Carolina Title 8" is the note I
wrote down referencing this).
So I still need to talk to local building inspectors.  Just thought I
would share this part of my journey with everyone and continue to look
forward to feedback.  Joe in Greenville North Carolina USA

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