Changes in agricultural property relief are leaving farmers threatening to take their tractors to Westminster later this month and to spray manure on the capital's buildings, hardly likely to win sympathy for their cause.
The changes introduced by Rachel Reeves are an attempt to stop wealthy individuals investing in farmland to reduce their inheritance tax liabilities.
I should emphasise that I am not a tax lawyer and given that the changes don't come in until 2026, individual farm businesses would be well advised to seek appropriate professional advice. To judge the effect of the measures, I would need to have better data about individual farms that often have complicated structures, e.g., some land is rented,
The new £1m threshold after which tax will apply at a reduced rate of 20 per cent is in addition to the existing nil rate bands which can offer as much as £1m of protection, hence many families would qualify for £2m a relief.
The Country Land and Business Association estimates that 70,000 farms will be affected, Rachel Reeves says that three-quarters won't be. The final figure will be at the lower end of the range, in part depending on how many work arounds professional advisers can discover, It does not mean the end of family farms, but it does pose a new set of challenges.
