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Last week’s announcement in the finance bill to apply a lifetime limit of €70,000 to three of the main Young Trained Farmer reliefs has caused outrage among young farmers.
Young Trained Farmer stamp duty relief, stock relief and succession farm partnership credits will all fall under the €70,000 limit. “As an industry, we’re told we need more young farmers, yet this cap will be a disaster for the plans I have for the farm,” young dairy farmer Colm O’Leary told the Irish Farmers Journal.
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While the average amount of tax relief a young farmer avails of under all three measures amounts to €47,304 over five years, the cap will arguably be detrimental to farmers with expansion plans. For example, if a young farmer were to buy a farm worth €1m, they would save the normal 6% stamp duty fee of €60,000 for being a qualified Young Trained Farmer.
Once the €70,000 limit is in place they will only have a remaining €10,000 for tax relief to claim for their remaining time as a qualified Young Trained Farmer under 35.
The Department of Finance has said that the measure will only apply from 1 January 2019.
‘‘The limits contained in the finance bill, once enacted, will apply to claims for relief made in relation to stamp duty from 1 January 2019, and for the year of assessment 2019 and subsequent years of assessment for stock relief and succession farm partnership relief,’’ according to the Department of Finance.
‘‘Anyone submitting a stamp duty return from 1 January 2019 or tax returns for the 2019 year of assessment onwards must have regard to the amount of tax or duty relief claimed since 1 July 2014 and the total amount should not exceed €70,000.’’
Macra na Feirme president James Healy is seeking a meeting with Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe. However, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has insisted that the Irish Government has to abide by the regulation.
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