If farming is a sideline rather than most of your income, this article is probably not for you — the relief below turns on a two-thirds test you are unlikely to meet. And if you are paid on a W-2, none of it applies.

The short answer

Meet the two-thirds test, file your return and pay all the tax due by the March deadline, and you do not have to pay estimated tax for that year at all. Not a reduced amount — none.

Publication 225 states it plainly:

"if at least two-thirds of your gross income for the current tax year or the prior tax year is from farming and you file your tax return and pay all the tax due by March 2, you don't have to pay any estimated tax."

And its own example: "if at least two-thirds of your gross income for 2024 or 2025 is from farming and you file your 2025 Form 1040 and pay all the tax due by March 2, 2026, you don't have to make an [estimated tax payment]."

Why the publication says March 2

Because March 1, 2026 was a Sunday.

Nearly every guide to farm taxes calls this "the March 1 rule", and for most years that is right. It is also exactly the kind of shorthand that hardens into a fact. The date shifts when it falls on a weekend or a legal holiday, and the publication for that filing year carries the shifted date.

The habit worth formingDo not carry the date forward from last year's notes, and do not take it from a guide. Read it off Publication 225 for the year you are filing. It is one line, and it is the line the relief depends on.

A deadline that moves is a deadline people miss — because the year they miss it is the year it moved.

The two-thirds test is more generous than it looks

Two features make it easier to satisfy than a single-year test would be.

It measures gross income, not profit. The comparison is gross income from farming against gross income from all sources.

It looks at either year. Publication 225 defines a qualified farmer for 2025 as someone where at least two-thirds of gross income from all sources for 2024 or 2025 was from farming.

That second point is the practical one. A year with an unusual non-farm event — a land sale, a spouse's severance, an investment gain — does not automatically cost you the relief, because the prior year is still available to qualify on.

The corollary is that you cannot know for certain which years qualify until the numbers are in. Which leads to the one real risk here.

The risk of planning around it

The relief is attractive enough that it is tempting to run the year assuming it applies: make no estimated payments, plan to file early, settle everything at once.

If the mix shifts and you fall below two-thirds in both years, you arrive in March with no payments made and the ordinary estimated tax rules applying to the whole year. There is no partial credit for having intended to qualify.

So the safer posture is to track the income mix through the year and treat the relief as something you confirm, not something you assume. By autumn you will usually know.

The farm optional method, while you are in the neighbourhood

A separate provision worth knowing, because low-income years are exactly when it matters:

Gross farm income Net earnings are
$10,860 or less two-thirds of gross farm income
More than $10,860 $7,240

Publication 225 notes this can reduce or eliminate self-employment tax where the optional figure is lower than actual net earnings. It also affects what is credited to your Social Security record, which is a real trade-off rather than a free saving — take it to a qualified tax professional before electing it.

And the forms still come, or do not

Farm income arrives in many shapes — co-op distributions, custom work, crop insurance proceeds, government programme payments — and not all of it produces a form.

For tax years beginning after 2025 the 1099-NEC threshold is $2,000, so smaller custom-work relationships may send nothing at all. As everywhere else in this series, that changes the paperwork and not the liability.

What to do

  1. Track the farming share of gross income through the year, not at the end of it.
  2. Check both years before concluding the relief is unavailable.
  3. Read the March date off Publication 225 for your filing year. Do not inherit it.
  4. If you plan to use the relief, be ready to file early — the whole thing depends on filing and paying in full by that date.
  5. Keep making records as though you might not qualify, because the year you do not is the year it matters.

One rule, one date, a whole year of payments riding on both.

Track it now. Thank yourself in April.

Common questions

Do farmers have to pay quarterly estimated tax?
Not necessarily. Publication 225 states that if at least two-thirds of your gross income for the current or prior tax year is from farming and you file your return and pay all the tax due by the March deadline, you do not have to pay any estimated tax.
Is the deadline March 1 or March 2?
It depends on the year. Publication 225's example for the 2025 return gives March 2, 2026 — because March 1, 2026 fell on a Sunday. Check the date for your filing year rather than assuming March 1.
How is the two-thirds test measured?
Gross income from farming against gross income from all sources, and you can use either the current tax year or the prior one. Publication 225 defines a qualified farmer for 2025 as someone where at least two-thirds of gross income from all sources for 2024 or 2025 was from farming.
What if I miss the March date?
Then the relief does not apply and the ordinary estimated tax rules do, which can mean a penalty. This is a deadline with a consequence attached, not a filing convenience.
Does an off year break the test?
Not automatically, because the test looks at either the current or the prior year. A year with a large non-farm gain can still pass on the strength of the year before.
What is the farm optional method?
A way to figure net earnings for self-employment tax purposes. Publication 225 states that if gross farm income is $10,860 or less, net earnings are two-thirds of gross farm income; above that, $7,240. It can reduce or eliminate self-employment tax in a low year, but it interacts with your Social Security record, so discuss it with a qualified tax professional.
Do I still need to keep quarterly records?
Yes. Whether you can use the relief is only known once the year's income mix is settled, so a year run on the assumption that you qualify — and that turns out not to — leaves you with no payments made and no way back.

This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult a qualified tax professional about your situation.

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