Farm Service Agency Taxpayer Outreach Education and Technical Assistance (American Rescue Plan Assistance)

 

Throughout the pandemic USDA has provided vital support to farmers and ranchers experiencing a variety of hardships from natural disasters to supply chain disruptions. This includes over $23 billion dollars in program payments through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to eligible producers to offset the financial impacts of the pandemic on American agriculture. FSA has made and continues to make a concerted effort to reach producers who are new to farming and new to working with USDA to ensure eligible producers receive the support they need. Many of the producers who participated in CFAP, particularly CFAP 2 due to increased support for specialty crops, were participating in a disaster program for the first time. Many producers are not aware that receiving funds from USDA through activities such as an EQIP contract, disaster payments, and the pending debt relief legislation payments creates a tax liability for their farm business. Often producers who receive financial support from USDA do not have the technical knowledge or understanding of how USDA program payments are treated for tax purposes or where to get support regarding tax questions. Taxpayer education has been a longstanding issue in the agricultural community. There is a dearth of preparers in rural areas, many producers are not knowledgeable about agricultural taxes, and producers do not have the knowledge or resources necessary to integrate tax planning into their farm financial planning process. USDA frequently works with historically underserved, beginning, and limited resource producers who lack access to legal and certified public accounting services or who are unfamiliar with agricultural accounting best practices. To address these issues the Farm Service Agency (FSA), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), seeks to partner with a variety of cooperators through cooperative agreements to develop and deliver taxpayer education to producers and key stakeholders. These agreements will focus on addressing immediate needs of producers as well as their long-term needs, with the additional benefit of developing infrastructure to support rural taxpayer education and tax preparation for limited resource, beginning, and historically underserved farmers and ranchers.

Active 10.146 Farm Service Agency, Department of Agriculture D - Direct Payments With Unrestricted Use Not applicable. American Rescue Plan Act 2021, Section 1006 Applicants and applications must meet eligibility criteria by the application deadline to be considered for award. Applicant entities identified in the SAM.gov exclusions database as ineligible, prohibited/restricted, or excluded from receiving Federal contracts and certain Federal assistance and benefits will not be considered for Federal funding, as applicable to the funding being requested under this Federal program (2 CFR 200.206(d)). Not applicable. Not applicable. Preapplication coordination is not applicable. 2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards applies to this program. 2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards applies to this program. Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFO) for this listing will be posted on Grants.gov. The agency seeks to compete funding wherever possible. The agency may choose to award funding noncompetitively when seeking to fund continuing work already started under a previous award, activities that cannot be delayed due to an emergency, work where it is impractical to secure competition, fund unique and innovative unsolicited applications, or other reasons. For competitive awards, additional specific award procedures may be outlined in individual Notices of Funding Opportunities published on Grants.gov. However, procedures will generally follow the steps set out here. Once funding decisions are made, the agency may contact individual applicants to clarify certain components of their applications. Merit/technical reviews of all applications will be conducted by a technical review board nominated by the approving official. Risk reviews will be conducted by the FPAC Business Center, Grants and Agreements Division. The approving official will make the final award decisions. The approving official for this opportunity is the FSA Associate Administrator. Reviews will be conducted in a multi-phase process in which an interagency staff panel from FPAC agencies will make recommendations to the approving official. Interagency reviewers will be selected based upon knowledge, skills, training, and experience in relevant fields. February 1, 2023 to April 30, 2023 Applicants must submit applications via Grants.gov. Applications must be received by 11:59 pm Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of the opportunity. An application submitted or resubmitted after the deadline is late (an application is considered on time at 11:59.59 pm ET, but it is late at 12:00 am ET). Late submissions will not be reviewed or considered. Contact headquarters, as appropriate for questions regarding application deadlines. From 60 to 90 days. Not applicable. Not applicable. Not applicable. Except as otherwise indicated in specific Notices of Funding Opportunities under the program, assistance funds may be used for project costs in accordance with 2 CFR 200, Subpart E – Cost Principles Performance Reports: Recipients must provide the following to the agency: • Quarterly performance reports that compare accomplishments to the objectives stated in the application, and that must also: • Identify all tasks completed to date and provide documentation supporting the reported results (dates and locations of activities, county, city state; number of participants assisted, barriers to participation); • If the original schedule provided in the work plan is not being met, discuss the problems or delays that may affect completion of the project; • List objectives for the next reporting period. In accordance with the provisions of 2 CFR 200, Subpart F - Audit Requirements, nonfederal entities that expend financial assistance of $750,000 or more in Federal awards will have a single or a program-specific audit conducted for that year. Non-Federal entities that expend less than $750,000 a year in Federal awards are exempt from Federal audit requirements for that year, except as noted in 2 CFR 200.503. This program is subject to 2 CFR 200, Subpart F - Audit Requirements. Not applicable. Statutory formula is not applicable to this assistance listing.

Matching requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. Funding for this program is not cyclical. Funding opportunities will be announced as funding is available and as agency priorities dictate. Funds are primarily available through the American Rescue Plan Act. The agency seeks to compete funding wherever possible. The agency may choose to award funding noncompetitively when seeking to fund continuing work already started under a previous award, activities that cannot be delayed due to an emergency, work where it is impractical to secure competition, fund unique and innovative unsolicited applications, or other reasons. Method of awarding/releasing assistance: Program funds may be released on a reimbursable project basis or deliverable basis, or an advance basis in accordance with 2 CFR 200.305. Contact FSA's Outreach Office at fsaoutreach@usda.gov with additional questions. Linda Cronin
1400 Independence Ave., SW, Stop 0511
Washington, DC 20250-0511
Washington, DC 20250 USA
linda.cronin@usda.gov
Phone: (202) 692-4928 https://www.fsa.usda.gov/outreach 12-0115-0-1-351 (Direct Payments with Unrestricted Use) FY 22$6,000,000.00; FY 23 est $4,000,000.00; FY 24 est $4,000,000.00; FY 21$0.00; - Because this is a new program, data for averages is not readily available. However, anticipated ranges may fall between $50,000 and $500,000 and will be specified in the Notice of Funding Opportunity. Not applicable. Not applicable.