You May Still Qualify For an Additional ECAP Payment Limit
If equipment gains prevented you from getting an additional ECAP payment, you may be in luck now
If you filed for an additional ECAP payment limit and got stuck at the $125,000 payment limit, take one more look before August 17, 2026. A recalculation could move you to the $250,000 limit — and there is still time to file the form that gets you there.
The deadline. August 17, 2026, is the date to have Form CCC-943 on file with FSA to claim the higher payment limit for ECAP (see 1-ECAP, Par. 60). If it is not on file by then, you are capped at $125,000.
The two limits. ECAP pays up to $125,000 per person or legal entity. That jumps to $250,000 if at least 75% of your average gross income for 2020, 2021, and 2022 came from farming, ranching, or forestry. Remember that ECAP uses gross income — total income off the return — not adjusted gross income, and there is no $900,000 AGI cap on this program at all.
Why to recalculate. Equipment gains now count. When you sell machinery used in the operation, that gain is automatically treated as farm income for the 75% test. A lot of producers ran the numbers, left equipment sales out, landed under 75%, and figured they were done at $125,000. Run it again with those gains in.
Here is the point: if you did not qualify the first time, you may qualify now. And if you now clear 75%, filing CCC-943 by August 17 is worth another $125,000 of payment limit.
We wrote up the same idea for SDRP this morning. The mechanics are close, but the two programs are on their own tracks. SDRP uses Form FSA-510 (an AGI test — net farm income), and that deadline is actually April 30, 2027. ECAP uses CCC-943 (a gross-income test) and is due August 17, 2026. Different forms, different income definitions, different dates — run each program on its own.
If a recalculation might help, call your CPA and your FSA office before August 17.