The finance bill, as currently drafted, contains provisions that would be devastating for young farmers, according to ifac. In a statement, ifac said changes must be made before the bill becomes law or it will “be very bad news for young farmers”.
When the draft bill was published, it was revealed a lifetime ceiling of €70,000 would be applied to the amount of grant aid available to young farmers.
This affects the amount of tax relief claimable under young trained farmers' stamp duty, the stock relief for young farmers and the succession farm partnership schemes.
Complicated landscape
Ifac has said that Revenue has now issued two further guidances in relation to young farmer reliefs which “significantly complicates the tax landscape for young farmers”.
In a statement, ifac said the changes would have three major impacts on young farmers:
Young farmer stamp duty relief is now being treated as startup aid and so the tax relief being made available to young farmers is significantly less than in previous years.Young farmers seeking to buy land off a relative after 2020 or any non-relative from 1 January 2019 will now not be able to avail of tax relief for those transactions under the scheme.Most young farmers will have used up their full €70,000 relief allocation by 1 January 2019 as anyone submitting a tax return from that date must, for the first time, consider the amount of duty they have claimed since 1 July 2014 (and the total amount should not exceed €70,000).Startup aid
Declan McEvoy, head of tax at ifac, said: "The clarification received from Revenue by the ifac tax team this week shows that the young farmer stamp duty relief scheme is now clearly being treated as a startup aid.
''All the planning and associated costs of both legal and tax will now be heaped on young farmers which is unacceptable. If this goes ahead, it will prevent the young trained farmer from availing of relief on the purchase of land and it could also prevent them from getting a second or subsequent transfer free of stamp duty.”
He concluded by saying if the bill was not amended then young farmers' stamp duty relief would go from being a relatively simple relief to a hugely complicated one.
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The finance bill, as currently drafted, contains provisions that would be devastating for young farmers, according to ifac. In a statement, ifac said changes must be made before the bill becomes law or it will “be very bad news for young farmers”.
When the draft bill was published, it was revealed a lifetime ceiling of €70,000 would be applied to the amount of grant aid available to young farmers.
This affects the amount of tax relief claimable under young trained farmers' stamp duty, the stock relief for young farmers and the succession farm partnership schemes.
Complicated landscape
Ifac has said that Revenue has now issued two further guidances in relation to young farmer reliefs which “significantly complicates the tax landscape for young farmers”.
In a statement, ifac said the changes would have three major impacts on young farmers:
Young farmer stamp duty relief is now being treated as startup aid and so the tax relief being made available to young farmers is significantly less than in previous years.Young farmers seeking to buy land off a relative after 2020 or any non-relative from 1 January 2019 will now not be able to avail of tax relief for those transactions under the scheme.Most young farmers will have used up their full €70,000 relief allocation by 1 January 2019 as anyone submitting a tax return from that date must, for the first time, consider the amount of duty they have claimed since 1 July 2014 (and the total amount should not exceed €70,000).Startup aid
Declan McEvoy, head of tax at ifac, said: "The clarification received from Revenue by the ifac tax team this week shows that the young farmer stamp duty relief scheme is now clearly being treated as a startup aid.
''All the planning and associated costs of both legal and tax will now be heaped on young farmers which is unacceptable. If this goes ahead, it will prevent the young trained farmer from availing of relief on the purchase of land and it could also prevent them from getting a second or subsequent transfer free of stamp duty.”
He concluded by saying if the bill was not amended then young farmers' stamp duty relief would go from being a relatively simple relief to a hugely complicated one.
Read more
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