Posts Tagged ‘income’

Although signing bonuses generate an enormous amount of interest because they are guaranteed income, royalties can be significantly higher. A royalty is a share of a well’s income. The customary royalty rate is 12.5 percent of the value of gas produced by a well. Higher royalty rates are sometimes paid by aggressive buyers for highly desirable properties.

The royalties paid to eligible property owners from a well yielding over one million cubic feet of natural gas per day can be hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

If the Marcellus Shale holds up to the optimistic expectations of some natural gas experts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and West Virginia could temporarily have an enormous boost in income that might be sustained for a few decades.
Copyright: Geology.com

Topics like reporting leasing income, transferring leases to beneficiaries to be covered.

The temptation to just sign could seem irresistible. With a few strokes of the pen, some people in the region are being offered the chance to completely change their lives with natural gas leases.

But first, they’re warned, make peace with the fact that the next person will get more. Check the maps, they’re told, check the deed, hire a lawyer, test the water. How much environmental damage is acceptable? How about hassles to daily life?

For those not involved, think Beverly Hillbillies, minus that improbable shot, and then exchange the endearing high jinks for hours of tedious title searching, legal work and stressful decisions with lifelong implications.

So who could blame anyone for simply signing and hiding behind the wads of cash? Well, their children, for one. Because with the great benefits of gas royalties come the great responsibilities of taxation and profit allocation, and, if they’re ignored, the great headaches of the judicial system and familial infighting.

“People are just seeing the (money) as a way to pay taxes … and not thinking about having to report it to the IRS and the tax implications that could have on them … or thinking about general financial planning or investing,” wrote Donna Skog Grey in an e-mail.

Grey, who works for the Penn State Cooperative Extension in Luzerne County, says the extension has been fielding questions on gas leases, environmental issues and lessee rights. What to do with the money, however, hasn’t come up often, she noted, which is why the extension is sponsoring workshops on what to do after the lease is signed but before the money rolls in.

One is planned for Lake-Lehman Junior/Senior High School on Aug. 25.

“There may be some strategies available to reduce the income tax,” said Dale Tice, an attorney with Greevy & Associates, a Williamsport law firm consulting on gas leases. “That’s something they would want to work out with their accountant or financial advisor prior to receiving the payment.”

The workshop will cover various topics, including how to report leasing income – the cash bonuses are just like regular income – transferring leases to beneficiaries and investment options.

“Certainly the cash-bonus payment is an issue,” Tice said. “It could push somebody up into a higher tax bracket. … You’re looking at a large potential tax hit, and without using the strategies that are available, you’ve got issues (in the event of) divorce, creditors.”

To add to confusion, there are health-care implications with elderly lessees who are currently eligible for Medicare or Medicaid, he said.

He noted some families are creating limited-liability companies to distribute the proceeds, and that family limited partnerships can make dividing up ownership of the lease similar to issuing stock.

“Really, the issue here is providing governance, keeping the parents in control of the resource while they’re alive, but at the same time providing for an orderly and easy shift of equity to the next generation,” Tice said. “I don’t think that you have to have it necessarily worked out before you receive your cash-bonus payment, but certainly there’s no disadvantage to thinking about these issues earlier rather than later.”

If you go

A natural gas-leasing workshop entitled “Managing Natural Gas Lease and Royalty Income” is scheduled for 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 25 at the Lake-Lehman Junior/Senior High School. The cost is $10 per person. To make reservations, call the Penn State Cooperative Extension at 1-888-825-1701.

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

Copyright: Times Leader