Farmer Participation in the Social Security Program

Optional coverage of self‐employed farmers under the OASDI program may reduce the proportion of farmers reporting taxable self‐employment income from farming in a given year significantly below the proportion who could report. The original intent of the option—to prevent vagaries in income receipts from affecting continuity of OASDI coverage—may be frustrated for some low income farmers who qualify in a given year to report or not to report. The pressure on them to retain their cash income may bias them toward making the decision not to report in a given year on short‐term grounds. Furthermore, some farmers who could or should report their self‐employment income from farming apparently do not because of misunderstanding or lack of understanding of the law or the regulations.