MSU Income Tax School

John Jones is Co-Cordinator TelFarm.  He began working with the Telfarm Data Center in 2013 as an Outreach Specialist.   He assist Telfarm as a staff member answering farm management and record keeping questions. He is especially helpful with questions relating to the PCMars farm accounting program, although the Center also expects to use his skills in other areas as needed.

John previously worked as the Telfarm Director, 1987-1997.  His earlier work centered on moving the Telfarm Data Center from 305 Computer Center to the current location at 414 Justin S Morrill Hall of Agriculture and supervising the moving of the data entry from on-campus keypunch to on-farm personal computers using the Telfarm for Windows accounting and payroll software. 

For fifteen years after serving as the Telfarm Director, Jones owned and operated a dairy farm near Posen, Michigan. He received his MS degree from Iowa State University in 1979.

Research and Outreach Interests

• Coordinator - MSU Income Tax School
  • 2017 is John’s first year as the Coordinator of the MSU Income Tax School.  Initial years will rely heavily on the advice and assistance of Larry Borton, past-Coordinator.
  • Assisting over 2,000 CPAs, Enrolled Agents, and Accountants with their continuing education on the proper application of the income tax code and regulations.  Participants estimate preparing over 425,000 federal tax returns.
  • Provide income tax education assistance to the faculty and MSU Extension educators.

• Manager – MSU Telfarm Data Center

  • The Telfarm system of farm financial record keeping is a program available from MSU Extension’s Farm Information Resources Management (FIRM) Team. It is an educational and service program designed to assist farmers with their farm financial records and decision making. The program has its roots with the MSU Farm Records program which began in 1928, and evolved into a mail-in computer records program by the mid 1950s.  Today the records are entered with the use of personal computers, predominantly on-farm.
  • Capture and analyze farm management data used in agricultural sector modeling.  The economic intelligence produced is used by farmers, agri-businessmen and policy analysts in decision making.
  • Assisting Telfarm cooperators with on-farm issues of information system design to efficiently capture and retrieve necessary management information.
  • Work with MSU-Extension educators to enhance their programs in the areas of farm records, farm and income tax management, and economic intelligence
  • Computer programs used while carrying out responsibilities include PcMars Accounting, FBFM Asset Manager, and Finpack farm business analysis software.