We buy minerals. But more than buying minerals, we help people.
Helping People is our drive. It’s our passion.
Unfortunately, the oil and gas industry has a decidedly negative opinion about everyone on both sides of the mineral transaction table.
The same people who complain about oil and gas opponents in the news turn around and play the role of activist making waves in their industry.
(more…)If you own property with known oil and gas reserves, and you have the mineral rights, you may receive “royalties” – the payments you receive from these resources. Such royalties depend on the number of units, such as barrels of oil, removed from your land. The company or individual leasing the land for extraction pays you the royalties, which are subject to federal, state and sometimes local tax.
You probably signed a lease with the company or person drilling for oil or gas on your property. That entity is known as the lessee. If you received a lease bonus payment prior to the drilling or extraction, this is reported as ordinary income on your federal tax return. Lease bonus payments are reported to property owners by the lessee on Form 1099 MISC, Box 1, under “Rents.” You must report your lease bonus payment on the first page of Schedule E, Supplemental Income and Loss. This payment is also included on Form 1040, line 17, but you don’t pay self-employment tax. If the lessee needs more time to begin drilling, you might receive a delay rental payment, which is also reported as ordinary income.
Once a well produces oil or gas, you should start receiving royalty payments, and this continues as long as the well is productive, unless your lease includes other specifications. According to the Internal Revenue Service, royalties on oil and gas are taxed as ordinary income. You might need to make estimated quarterly tax payments to the IRS and your state if your royalties are significant. You can reduce the tax bite by using depletion, comparing your royalty income from other sources of ordinary income. As this is a fairly complicated formula, you might wish to contact a tax professional.
You generally report your oil and gas royalties on Part I of Schedule E, Form 1040. According to the IRS, if you hold an operating oil, gas, or mineral interest that generates income — that is, income other than royalties — you should use Schedule C to report income and expenses.
If you decide to sell your oil or gas-producing property, the money you receive is not considered royalties but simply the sale of real estate. If you sell some percentage of future production in the property, this money is considered as a loan from the buyer by the IRS. Do not include it as income for tax purposes. Once production starts, include all the payments as income, but deduct any production expenses. After figuring that amount, deduct depletion to figure the taxable income.
Does your Oil, Gas & Mineral Lease expire at the end of the primary term if a well has not been drilled?
Don’t let the size of the type convey its effect.
The expiration of an Oil, Gas & Mineral Lease is not the primary term, if: (a) a well is producing; (b) a well is drilling; or (c) continuous surface operations are being conducted in preparation of drilling a well.
It’s the language in small print that most people overlook which says:
“If within ninety (90) days prior to the end of the primary term, Lessee should complete or abandon a well on the lands described above or on land pooled therewith, or if production previously secured should cease from any cause, this lease shall continue in force and effect for ninety (90) days from such completion or abandonment or cessation of production. If at the expiration of the primary term or at the expiration of the ninety (90) day period provided for in the preceding sentence, oil, gas, sulphur, or other mineral is not being produced on said land or on land pooled therewith, but Lessee is then engaged in operations for drilling, completion, or reworking thereon, or operations to achieve or restore production, or if production previously secured should cease from any cause after the expiration of the primary term, this lease shall remain in force so long thereafter as Lessee either (a) is engaged in operations for drilling, completion, or reworking, or operations to achieve to restore production, with no cessation between operations or between such cessation of production and additional operations of more than ninety (90) consecutive days; or (b) is producing oil, gas, sulphur, or other mineral from said land hereunder or from land pooled therewith.”
This shouldn’t be confused with interrupting a mineral servitude because to interrupt a mineral servitude, the drillbit has to penetrate the land. Two quite separate issues but closely connected….
Laura is a Certified Professional Landman with over 30 years of experience in oil and gas. She founded Ilios Resources in 2004 to bring a much needed personal touch to mineral rights transactions. Laura wanted to build a company founded on relationships, not revenue at all costs.
She succeeded, and Ilios has been delighting mineral owners and buyers for well over a decade.
At Ilios Resources, we’ve been working with mineral owners to help them optimize their mineral interests because ‘one size does not fit all’. Standing behind this philosophy Ilios strives to help the mineral owner understand its situation so they can choose the best option that lays before them. The industry has changed a lot since we started, but one thing remains unchanged: mineral owners are often frustrated and confused by the complexity of this industry.
Come Drill A Well In My Backyard is one of the best resources to assist the layman with an understanding of what is required so that an oil and gas well can be drilled, and then produced. The entire cycle is explained from the generation of a geological prospect and obtaining oil and gas leases to drilling and completing a well. By the end of this book, everyone we’ve recommended it to are thankful.