Farmer Focus: Tax change could help smart young farmers
Dan Phillips © Richard Swingler The Christmas period is fast approaching, and with that comes the yearly rush of trying to get as many jobs tied up in the weeks leading up to 25 December as possible.
We then like to have a quiet Christmas week, with just the basics getting done.
Unfortunately for me this year, the broilers are due to be caught on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, meaning a hectic few days and nights lie ahead.
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While this is a bit inconvenient, it is just part of the job and is out of my control.
It is a year on from my first column for Farmers Weekly, and what a topsy-turvy year we have had.
With record prices for beef, lamb and poultry, it ought to have been a wholly positive year for our business, but it has felt incredibly bleak at times.
The planned changes to inheritance tax have pushed succession planning to the forefront for many, and it was disappointing to see no major adjustments in last month’s Budget.
In some ways, the rumours of late changes only added to the uncertainty, but at least we now have clarity to move ahead with the plans we’ve set in motion.
We first sat down with our accountant in August, aiming to have all the legal agreements and changes completed by the end of the year.
It has been really frustrating to see timescales slipping, owing to solicitors’ workloads and technical details.
For our business, it should be a relatively simple process, and so I can only imagine how protracted things must be for businesses with more complex structures or more complicated, difficult decisions to make.
On a more positive note, the tax changes may well mean a huge opportunity for younger farmers keen to expand and grow their businesses.
Our farm, like many, was once part of a large estate broken up because of taxation in the 1970s and 1980s, giving us the chance to buy the land we were renting.
We may well be seeing the beginning of another, similar, ownership reform.
The key thing will be whether farmers will be able to position themselves correctly to make the most of these opportunities as they arise – as well as having the appetite and confidence needed to take on the financial risk in these uncertain times.