Why has the government brought in this 20% inheritance tax for farmers?

Won't affect 88% of farmers apparently

 

I was expecting and it was rumoured that they would lower the inheritance tax threshold but its stayed at 20% upto 325000.

 

Raw vegetables prices are too cheap, these super offers the supermarkets have, I can't see how a farmer can make any profit.

 

They can't... That's part of the problem. Supermarkets have too much power so can bully producers and providers into accepting very nominal profit at large scales of volume.

If you look online at home buying websites, you'll see loads of farms or out buildings for sale, and some parcels of land. And is part of the cycle of wild land to scrub to agriculture to concrete thats been going on for some time and has nothing to do with the current government.

How you take on the supermarkets though, particularly when price inflation has been high and cost of living restrictive, I truly don't know. Though it might be helpful if we were able to export to a really large free market more readily.

 

Aren’t they still inheriting the shares in the company, and then would have to pay inheritance tax anyway?

 

This exactly. Hasn’t James Dyson done something similar but on a larger scale?

 

Yep

 

And the rest of us, if we are lucky enough, will be paying IHT at 40% on anything above £325k, or £500k if you are passing your property down to direct descendants. And defined contribution pension pots are now included (which they weren’t when some of us took the decision to transfer out of a defined benefit scheme). So, it’s not just the farmers who have had their situation materially changed. But again, it’s one of those measures intended to create more fairness (because rich people were effectively using their pension pots to pass wealth down whilst avoiding IHT), that has potentially caught some of us less wealthy people as well. That’s life I guess.

 

Didn't hide them. Anyone can go see the conservatory on Park Road it paid for.

 

James Dyson is a Nimitz class bellend, the only thing about him that doesn't suck is his hoovers.

 

James Dyson makes Hoovers. Thats a new un.

 

Well vacuum cleaners if you want me to be technically correct, but to me they're all hoovers regardless of brand.

 

It depends how the shares are issued. If they divide them between the family members, the individual shares are worth much less than the estate is.

 

And brexiteers, no sympathy

 

Brilliant response, I was going say that most of the problems they're facing were problems they voted for.
And don't get me started on the fishermen!

 

It’s not overly complex to avoid as long as you are relatively young and have kids.

The farmer could take out Life assurance equal to the expected inheritance tax liability, decreasing over a 7 year period to 0. By gifting the farm to the kids after the 7 year period the farm is theirs with no IHT. If they did die before the 7 year period the life assurance policy would cover the IHT.

The issue is more difficult for elderly farmers as the cost of life assurance may be prohibitively expensive.

 

That’s a common misconception, if you live more than 7 years after the date of gifting you can gift an unlimited amount.

The £3k gifting allowance simply allows gifts to be made tax free within 7 yers of death.

 

Farming is a difficult one, on the one hand Brexit has made life very difficult for arable farmers who can't get people to pick crops so many have given up. On the other hand, very few farmers can be said to be poor. Land values alone make many land-owning farmers very wealthy indeed (on paper). The poorest farmers are those that rent the land on which they farm so this change won't have any adverse effect on them.