Agriculture relief changes ‘will hinder farm succession’ - ICMSA

The Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) has warned that changes to agriculture relief will “hinder farmers but without halting the purchase of land by wealthy non-farmers”.

The association is raising concerns about the proposed changes announced by Minister for Finance Jack Chambers to agriculture and retirement relief under Budget 2025.

ICMSA farm business chair Pat O’Brien said the measures could obstruct genuine farm transfers to the next generation.

“The six-year usage rule, for example, will end up excluding many very genuine farm transfers and we have asked the Government to ensure that this will not be the case when the finance bill is published.

“The whole point of agriculture relief is to facilitate the transfer of the family farm from one generation to the next and ensuring that that ‘successor’ generation have the option to continue to farm the land rather than being forced to sell the land to meet a tax liability.”

Avoiding tax

O’Brien is also concerned that the measures do not adequately address the controversial purchase of farm land by non-farmers seeking to avail of the farm relief measures to avoid a range of inheritance and capital gains taxes.

He called on the minister for finance to immediately clarify the exact circumstances around the proposals and commit to ensuring that farm family situations currently accommodated will continue to obtain the relief.

“If the proposal’s intention was to address land banking by wealthy non-farming investors and individuals, [the] ICMSA believes that it will fail in this regard and that this land banking will continue, with investors continuing to utilise tax reliefs for this purpose,” he added.

“If that disaster was to happen, it will mean that many family farms may have to be sold to pay the taxes, which in turn means more farm land becoming available for the investors to buy - the very opposite of what these proposed changes were supposed to achieve.

“As it stands, we think his proposals will hinder farmers, but without halting the purchase of land by wealthy non-farmers trying to avoid inheritance and CGT taxation liabilities.”