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Farmers who sell a piece of land and buy another can claim the reduced consolidation stamp duty rate from 1 August, a Department of Finance spokesperson has confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal.
The Government trebled the tax on the sale of commercial property including farmland to 6% in last October’s budget, but Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe agreed the following month to extend to stamp duty the consolidation relief already applicable to capital gains tax. The EU has cleared the measure for state aid rules and Minister Donohoe is due to sign a commencement order by the end of this month.
To avail of it, farmers must sell and buy two pieces of land within 24 months of each other between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2020. The stamp duty rate is then 1% of the difference between the two transactions, instead of 6% of the full purchase value in other cases. The farmer must obtain a consolidation certificate from Teagasc, subject to a €300 fee, and retain the land for five years or face a claw back.
Minister Donohoe signed a separate order exempting farming land leases longer than six years from stamp duty from 1 July, in application of legislation passed in 2014.
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