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Farm Employment: Farm Business Taxes (2025 IRS Guide)

This guide covers “Farm Employment” within farm business taxes. The following material presents the IRS treatment of this topic, including the qualifications, exceptions, and examples in the source section. Read the rules alongside the facts of your own situation before deciding what to report, deduct, or document.

Adapted from Publication 225 (2025), Farmer's Tax Guide, published by the Internal Revenue Service. This guide retains the source edition’s years, amounts, deadlines, and examples. It is guidance for that edition, not a statement that the same figures apply to every tax year.

Farm Employment

In general, you’re an employer of farmworkers if your employees do any of the following types of work.

  • Raising or harvesting agricultural or horticultural products on a farm, including raising and feeding of livestock and raising bees for pollination and the production of honey.

  • Operating, managing, conserving, improving, or maintaining your farm and its tools and equipment, if the major part of such service is performed on a farm.

  • Services performed in salvaging timber, or clearing land of brush and other debris, left by a hurricane (also known as hurricane labor) if the major part of such service is performed on a farm.

  • Handling, processing, or packaging any agricultural or horticultural commodity in its unmanufactured state if you produced more than half of the commodity (for a group of up to 20 unincorporated operators, all of the commodity).

  • Work related to cotton ginning, turpentine, gum resin products, or the operation and maintenance of irrigation facilities.

For more information, see section 2 of Pub. 15.

Generally, a worker who performs services for you is your employee if you have the right to control what will be done and how it will be done. This is so even when you give the employee freedom of action. What matters is that you have the right to control the details of how the services are performed. You’re responsible for withholding and paying employment taxes for your employees. You’re also required to file employment tax returns. These requirements don’t apply to amounts that you pay to independent contractors, as discussed later under Nonemployee compensation. See sections 1 and 2 of Pub. 15-A for more information on how to determine whether an individual providing services is an independent contractor or an employee.

If you employ a family of workers, each worker subject to your control (not just the head of the family) is an employee.

Special rules apply to crew leaders. See Crew Leaders, later.

Employer identification number (EIN).

If you’re required to report employment taxes or give tax statements to employees, you must have an EIN. If you don’t have an EIN, you may apply for one online by going to IRS.gov/EIN. You may also apply for an EIN by faxing or mailing Form SS-4 to the IRS. Be aware that you may already have an EIN if you have previously had farm employees; previously had nonfarm employees in a different business; you file Form 2290, Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax Return; or your farm business is structured as a partnership, limited liability company, S corporation, or C corporation.

Employee’s social security number (SSN).

An employee who doesn’t have an SSN and is legally eligible to work in the United States should submit Form SS-5, Application for a Social Security Card, to the SSA. Form SS-5 is available from any SSA office or by calling 800-772-1213. It is also available from the SSA’s website at SSA.gov/online/ss-5.pdf.

The employee must furnish evidence of age, identity, and U.S. citizenship or lawful immigration status permitting employment with the Form SS-5.

Form I-9.

You must verify that each new employee is legally eligible to work in the United States. This includes completing the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. You can get Form I-9 at USCIS.gov/Forms. For more information, go to the USCIS website at USCIS.gov/I-9-Central or call 800-375-5283 or 800-767-1833 (TTY).

You may use the Social Security Number Verification Service (SSNVS) at SSA.gov/employer/ssnv.htm to verify that an employee name matches an SSN. A person may have a valid SSN but not be authorized to work in the United States. You may use E-Verify at E-Verify.gov to confirm the employment eligibility of newly hired employees. Some states may require employers to also use E-Verify; check with the appropriate agency in your state.

Form W-4.

You should give each new employee a Form W-4 (IRS.gov/W4) as soon as you hire the employee. For Spanish-speaking employees, you may use Formulario W-4 (sp), which is the Spanish translation of Form W-4. Have the employee complete and return Form W-4 to you before the first payday. If the employee doesn’t return the completed form, you must withhold federal income tax as if the employee had checked the box for Single or Married filing separately in Step 1(c) and made no entries in Step 2, Step 3, or Step 4 of Form W-4.

New hire reporting.

You’re required to report any new employee to a designated state new hire registry. A new employee is an employee who hasn’t previously been employed by you or was previously employed by you but has been separated from such prior employment for at least 60 consecutive days. Many states accept a copy of Form W-4 with employer information added. Go to the Office of Child Support Enforcement website at acf.hhs.gov/css/employers for more information.

Using the guidance

Keep the documents that establish the dates, amounts, and circumstances described above. References to other chapters, forms, worksheets, or earlier and later sections refer to the linked IRS publication. Check the full publication and its updates before relying on a rule for a different tax year or a situation not addressed here.

Sources and further reading

The cited U.S. government text is in the public domain. Source accessed October 28, 2026. Fynoptic has organized this material for educational use and is independent of, and not endorsed by, the IRS.

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