Government needs to prepare and publish its proposals to remove active farmers from liability to the residential zoned land tax (RZLT) on their own farmland as a matter of urgency, the IFA has said.

Tax bill

“Farmers all over the country are facing massive tax bills whenever this tax is triggered. As things stand, that is on 1 February 2025, which is only five months away,” said Bill O’Keeffe, the IFA’s farm business chair.

“We have met with all three coalition partners on the issue in recent days, and all three acknowledge that actively farmed land was never the intended target of this tax,” he said. “But with a general election looming, this needs to be put right as a priority”.

Most observers believe the general election will be in mid-November, less than three months away.

“A temporary fix is not good enough, there needs to be a permanent solution,” said O’Keeffe.