Do you need your parent/s to die before April 2026? *MNHQ adding content warning mentions suicide*

[Spatulation]

Absolutely reeling that we're losing the farm that my grandfather bought, my father expanded and my son hoped to takeover.

The budget today means that we'll owe £1000000 in tax and we won't be able to get a mortgage as that's 5 times our annual income and over 35000 times bigger than last year's profit.

We own soil. That's it.

Agriculture has the highest suicide rate in any profession - sadly I can see it hitting an all time high in the next 18 months. My father (83) is already talking about it.

I’m sorry OP and staggered by the levels of ignorance demonstrated on this thread. I’m not sure where people think their food comes from. I hope the NFU works with ministers to find a way that stops huge companies and wealthy individuals who have no interest in farming from abusing the tax rules but does not impact genuine family farms like your own. You and your family must be feeling shocked and devastated and I hope the way ahead becomes clearer and happier.

You misunderstand me. I wasn't asking what problems farmers faced within the industry. That's probably another thread. I was asking what's going wrong in the culture of people working in the industry thst they'd rather die than be unable to see their children and grandchildren succeed them into this precarious life of hardship beset by worries and issues.

People will only realise when food security becomes an issue

You’d have thought that what happened to food supplies, and other countries protectionism, during the Covid pandemic, wouldn’t have been too long ago that people couldn’t remember. But no, the moronic responses at the start of this thread prove quite how thick many people are. I did think over the course of the thread the responses were more thoughtful and intelligent but there’s still one of them posting 10 pages in…

Farms are either a business, in which case they should be a ltd company or similar, or they are personal assets. Can’t have it both ways.

I'm really sorry op, it's a terrible, short sighted decision. I think it'll be overturned.

I can only think the vast amount of posters are living in urban areas where they think Tesco “makes” carrots in a factory.

OP, I truly understand you. It’s a disgrace, Labour don’t understand farming.

For those posters saying oh good that frees up land for housing. Some places are only good for agriculture. Do you not see that. Remote farm land, on hills, can you not see why that’s not worth anything for housing and worth everything for food production. What will you eat if there are no farms????

I think some people have never stepped foot out of their city.

Yes you’re right small farms are profitable
tennant farms are often more profitable as they can’t borrow as much money and have to pay huge rents
The issue with owner occupied farms is they can borrow very easily from the bank so borrow to buy machines, more land often relying on something like bed and breakfast pigs to service the debt. The fleet can run to millions.

Farms are usually for sale in lots or as a whole so people can buy parcels of land. In the area I live land would be bought by people either going into agriculture or younger sons who haven’t got the family farm.

That’s ridiculous, thousands of small businesses, partnerships and self employed people aren’t Ltd companies.

@5128gap I think you are looking at it wrong. It's not what is 'wrong' but what is so important, meaningful, fundamental and all encompassing. It's a way of life, passed down through generations, In the blood so to speak. I don't think you can understand unless you are part of the farming community. They aren't 'working in the industry' they ARE the industry

Maybe the corridors of power have been alive with tales of rich people buying farms to avoid IHT. Think Clarkson, Dyson and thousands of anonymous bankers and business owners.
This might well be a hammer to crack a walnut, but why should a factory owner’s family need to pay IHT and a farmers not?

How this thread has demonstrated the collective ignorance of farming by tgis country
Yet they all manage to have an opinion on it

Your father will need to get proper legal advice @Spatulation but he does have options way less drastic than suicide.

He could sell off some land to raise capital. Or he could look into gifting the farm to a child/children now & then the tax liability would be lower. These things are complicated which is why he needs proper legal tax advice.

People do have worse financial problems than this hence some of the replies being rather unsympathetic. You are understandably feeling very emotional yourself. But try to help your Dad get this into perspective. He still has an extremely expensive asset to bequeath to the next generation which is more than most people can say.

I think what some people do is switch the house to become owned by the business instead so that might be one option.

Or he could may be shift ownership now? But there would still be IHT to pay of course like there always was. It’s just gone up.

It’s under 5% of the country that pay IHT so mostly I think it’s right that above 325,000 you pay it.

But, I do think the system for working farms that are producing large quantities of food, should be different as they are part of our national infrastructure.

This is what you get when you put left wing Londoners in charge; they have no idea about the rest of the country.

Most people don't understand but this may be the final nail in the coffin for many farming families. Mostly they are asset rich and cash poor. If you worked out the hours worked for the monies in, they would be on less than NMW.
The post Brexit regime for agriculture has not been fully thought through and has just exposed farmers to cheaper exports from outside the EU with lower production standards. They are told to diversify but proposals to add solar panels to land or develop for housing are strongly objected to by the public. Add some holiday accommodation to rent out? In Wales at least you would be clobbered with increased council tax. They can't win.
If you think food is expensive now, wait and see what 25% of family farms going out of business in the next few years does to the quality and price of food. Enjoy the views of rolling fields and hedges? Watch that disappear into housing or the hedgerows be ripped out to produce mega fields as part of a mega farm.
Think animal welfare and reducing carbon emissions is important? When the only meat available is imported from the other side of the world, where the animal has led a miserable life in a shed, will you go vegetarian?

@GotToLeave there was a system to protect working farms until yesterday!

“Only” 1 in 4 seems like a huge proportion to me!
I empathise with the OP. I’m very much a city person and know very little about farming but if 1 in 4 people were told they’d suddenly have to pay a massive increase on inheritance from their parents, they’d be upset. Particularly when (as I understand it) farming isn’t often hugely profitable, and if the land was sold it would likely be to developers etc thereby threatening UK food supply?
It’s odd to me to create this type of cliff-edge situation at least without some serious tapering so I can understand why people would be upset if it means their children will likely sell up and not continue to farm at all.

I’m not sure anything is wrong. It’s a very deeply felt connection to the land and a sense of duty to family.

It's the same with slaughterhouse workers. I think being responsible for killing so many animals and doing terrible things to them causes huge mental health issues. It's a very dark way of life.

I’m sorry OP. This is one of the reasons there has been no inheritance tax in Nz since the 1970s when it was abolished. It was recognised that farmers are asset rich and cash poor and inheritance tax would decimate the farming community and farming industry and lead to higher prices for food.

I do, however, support closing loopholes (which I don’t think has happened here). One former colleague proudly told me that his house in Surrey had extra land and a ride on mower purely to get the farming IHT exemption. He was no farmer, he was an accountant.

An environment secretary from Croydon! You couldn’t make it up.

Is there any reason the farm can’t incorporate now? That might be more tax efficient. Sounds like some good legal advice is in order. Hopefully everyone can hold tight until then, though I appreciate that is easier said than done.

You can get rollover relief on agri land

How is do you need your parents to die an OK title for what she is actually asking? She goes on to say "My father is suicidal because of the inheritance tax introduced in the budget on farms". By all means she can keep the title but posters will come on and see it as "I need dad to die so I can inherit a 6 million pound farm before I'm expected to pay 1 million in inheritance tax." Doesn't paint her well. How often do posters actually read the whole thread before unhelpfully tearing someone apart?

Most things are ultimately down to the luck of birth in one way or another.
Lucky to have been born in the UK instead of Gaza?
Lucky to be intelligent enough to hold down a decent job and afford a good standard of living?
Lucky enough to have been loved as a child and less likely to end up in abusive relationships?
Yes, people can work hard and climb out of poverty but there’s some element of luck involved in almost every aspect of life.
Etc etc