Calls have been made to amend the current tax system, which discourages farms being put in joint names.

Under the current rules, you can only qualify for capital gains tax (CGT) relief if you have been “actively” farming for at least 10 years and you have been in direct receipt of farm payments.

Traditionally, farm payments and herds are in the male farmer’s or husband’s name.

Retirement relief

Even if a wife’s name is jointly on the title deeds of the farm and she has been active in running the farm with her husband, on paper she will not have been “actively” farming and is not entitled to CGT retirement relief.

The IFA has called for this situation to be addressed in the next budget, and also highlighted the issue around PAYE entitlements.

“Where a farmer is being assisted by his or her spouse, and being paid by the farmer on a PAYE basis, that spouse should be eligible for the PAYE allowance, which they’re not at the minute,” chair of the IFA farm business committee Martin Stapleton said.

According to the CSO’s latest statistics, over a quarter of family farm labour is undertaken by women, yet they only make up roughly 12% of sole farm holders and just 3.8% of herds are in joint female/male names.

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