Guidance is needed to make sure that farm families in partnerships or companies are not disadvantaged.
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All active farmers, irrespective of their status as a sole trader, company or partnership, must be able to pass on their farm to the next generation, the ICMSA farm business chair Pat O’Brien has said.
O’Brien said that the concerns around the proposed changes to agriculture and retirement relief under Budget 2025 have been somewhat addressed in the Finance Bill.
He said that there was an initial worry that the measures announced by the Minister of Finance could have hindered genuine farm transfers to the next generation and the publication of the Finance Bill has alleviated some of that worry.
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However, he said further guidance was needed to make sure that those farm families in partnerships or companies are not disadvantaged either.
Tax liability
“The whole point of agriculture relief is to facilitate the transfer of the family farm from one generation to the next and ensuring that ‘successor’ generation has the option to continue to farm the land rather than being forced to sell the land to meet a tax liability,” O’Brien said.
“That’s the whole point and we believe that the bill will cover individual farmer cases in that respect.
“The important thing to note now is that farmers who have leased their land to their companies or are in a farm partnership must be afforded the same protection when transferring the asset. That is still unclear and ICMSA is calling on the Minister for Finance to immediately clarify the position on this matter,” O’Brien said.
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All active farmers, irrespective of their status as a sole trader, company or partnership, must be able to pass on their farm to the next generation, the ICMSA farm business chair Pat O’Brien has said.
O’Brien said that the concerns around the proposed changes to agriculture and retirement relief under Budget 2025 have been somewhat addressed in the Finance Bill.
He said that there was an initial worry that the measures announced by the Minister of Finance could have hindered genuine farm transfers to the next generation and the publication of the Finance Bill has alleviated some of that worry.
However, he said further guidance was needed to make sure that those farm families in partnerships or companies are not disadvantaged either.
Tax liability
“The whole point of agriculture relief is to facilitate the transfer of the family farm from one generation to the next and ensuring that ‘successor’ generation has the option to continue to farm the land rather than being forced to sell the land to meet a tax liability,” O’Brien said.
“That’s the whole point and we believe that the bill will cover individual farmer cases in that respect.
“The important thing to note now is that farmers who have leased their land to their companies or are in a farm partnership must be afforded the same protection when transferring the asset. That is still unclear and ICMSA is calling on the Minister for Finance to immediately clarify the position on this matter,” O’Brien said.
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