A high number of farming family members continue to avail of consanguinity relief, which drops the rate of stamp duty on non-residential farm transfers from 6% to 1%.

Some 1,605 people claimed €27.5m in relief last year, Revenue figures show. The relief is applicable to indirect blood relatives who might not be sons or daughters of farmers.

Controversy

The relief was the centre of major controversy in 2018, when the Government announced that farmland would be included in a commercial land definition, which would mean the rate of stamp duty would increase to 6% for many people not directly related to a farmer they were buying or inheriting land from.

Since then, the number of people availing of the relief has increased significantly.

Young trained farmers

While the number of young trained farmers using stock relief to increase their herd size decreased last year, the young farmer demand for land still appears to be strong.

The number of young farmers claiming stamp duty relief on farm transfers increased for the fourth year in a row. A total of 1,128 young farmers availed of Revenue relief, worth €14.6m. The highest percentage of young farmers was in Cork and Galway.

Capital acquisitions tax

The number of farmers claiming capital acquisitions tax agricultural relief also remained high with 1,413 farmers claiming relief worth €159m.

The relief is available for people who meet Revenue’s definition of a farmer at the time of the land valuation.

Almost 20% of claimants were in Cork, followed by the Kilkenny, Carlow and Laois areas, which were grouped collectively.

Overall, the land market appears to have been strong last year, with stamp duty returns associated with agricultural land increasing to 10,036.

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