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.

This is probably a stupid question, but: why is farmland, that is used by family farms, owned by an individual? Given that the farm is a business, is there a reason why the land couldn't be owned by a limited company?

This.

Yes, and they do that without any special tax exemptions. An asset of £6 million, plus associated machinery is not a small business.

But aren't those people going to find life a lot tougher when the price of food increases and increases because these working farms have to be sold (entirely or partly) to pay the tax bill. Most of the land sold will be used for development not farming so there will be more dependence on imported goods and even food grown in the country will be more expensive as there ll be less of it

@Spatulation I'm sorry your dad is so distressed he's considering suicide and that the rest of you are facing both the potential loss of a loved one and financial ruin or having to sell the farm. Before making any irreversible decisions, has your dad spoken to a financial advisor about options open to him? Could he, for example, sell the land to you or another family member and then rent it back from you? No idea if that's a legally viable option but a financial advisor might know?

OP this was the stand out for me in the budget yesterday, I’m not a farmer and I don’t come from a farming family, but I can see the massive impact such a move will have, and how destabilising it will be for UK farming and food production. Really hoping there is some tax planning your father can do 💐

I live fairly rurally and there’s a huge farming company that owns a chunk of the land by our village. They are a faceless organisation, bring in workers in minibuses from outside the area to work the land and leave. Compare this to the local farming family, who are the primary school governors, have built a classroom at their farm to regularly take the children to see the lambs being born, feed chicken and learn about wildlife. I know which I’d prefer to support.

Think that through. Is that what you want? Farms becoming enormous agribusinesses with accompanying loss of vital habitats and biodiversity? The British countryside resembling large parts of the States, where farms have to be colossal to survive? There are enough of them as there are. We need family farms and generational farmers.

I actually suspect that's what the government wants. Why have they caved into every union except the NUF?

The first few answers on here showed that many people have literally no idea about farming, food production, the countryside, and its custodians.

And gid knows I'm not one of huntin', shootin' and fishin' brigade.

Why should you get such a valuable farm completely free just because your dad owned it? Plenty of aspiring farmers can't get into the industry because most property is tied up by large wealthy farms.

Not to mention APR was rife with abuse, every bloody banker has a flock of sheep somewhere as a means of avoiding IHT.

I guess someone hasn’t heard of holdover relief for capital gains on agricultural land.

Jesus wept.

@ChampaignSupernova unfortunately the best made thread title can be wildly misunderstood and misinterpreted.
Money on mn never goes down well.

Think that through. Is that what you want? Farms becoming enormous agribusinesses with accompanying loss of vital habitats and biodiversity? The British countryside resembling large parts of the States, where farms have to be colossal to survive?

Owning your farm through a limited company doesnt have to mean you become a huge agribusiness? You still own it the same. What actually is the difference (except you likely pay more corporate tax on your profits if its via limited co).

The lack of understanding of how bad this is for farmers is shocking. So many “I’m alright Jack” attitudes.
Labour made clear what they thought of farming and countryside issues within weeks of coming to power - approving plans for massive solar farms (some of the largest in Europe) across prime agricultural land in East Anglia and Wiltshire.

why are people so ignorant about how farming works? Jeremy Clarkson is not the norm. The norm is people who put their life and soul into a business only to be ground into the ground metaphorically and now literally by the Labour government. New people won’t get into farming because they too won’t be able to buy the land because the value is too high and the returns are too low for the banks to be prepared to take the risks.
This will lead to more wind farms, more suicides and more price rises for food. Well done to those of you who voted Labour expecting to see things get better. It was never going to happen but even I hadn’t thought they would be this narrow
minded and callous. Families are being destroyed and the only winner is the chancellor.

You state 'and the suicides have already started.'

How many people have committed suicide since yesterday's budget, as a direct result of it?

I come from a wider family where there are many farmers and quite a few of my class at school married them. I am now in my sixties and retired. Most of them have made quite a bit of money getting planning permission for a few houses on parts of the farm. I think the very few who have a child wanting to carry on farming hold the land under a trust anyway. By far the largest number have sold the farm and used the £4million plus ( one got 7 million) to have a wonderful life and set up their children and grandchildren with properties too. I think OP you need some good financial and legal advice to find a way through this.

I was thinking more of the scenario where the family members were the shareholders, like in other family businesses. There may be financial or tax reasons why it's not viable, I don't know - hence asking the question. I wasn't talking about the huge corporations.

why should a factory owner’s family need to pay IHT and a farmers not

Family businesses currently benefit from Business Property Relief, meaning that in many cases family businesses have been passed down generations free from IHT. That is now changing in the same way as APR.

Anecdotally - three.

But they don’t have the land as assets to destroy the business via Inheritance tax. No land - no farm. It’s a unique situation that needs protection.

Jesus people are thick. Typical British thinking on this thread, you have more, why should you….waaaaaah. This is why the country is a state and most people are dependents.

I have real concerns moving forward about food stability. This should concern everyone. Problem is, most are too dumb to realise it and too wrapped up in jealousy to think.

Sorry about your dad.

How is he in his health generally? Could he not hand everything over to someone of a younger generation? Do you think he would live for another 7 years? I mean the 7 year rule would allow him to gift it to someone and they not pay tax should he live for another 7 years.

I've been completely a city person my entire life and am very far from well-off, but even so I can see why this is devastating for family farms and ultimately for the country's food security.

I am finding this thread deeply educational though. The number of posters whose wilful ignorance, deliberate blindness to explanations provided, naked envy and goading delight at any thought of "hitting the rich" shine through every word, while glowing with certainty that they are good kind people

People don’t “become farmers”—it’s too much hard work for not much pay. It’s an on-call 24/7 lifestyle. When farmers sell because they don’t earn enough to pay inheritance tax on the land, the land more than likely won’t be farmed ever again.

It’s not losing money or inheritance it’s losing a way of life. Children are raised to understand the land, how to farm it and care for it.

Perhaps I could buy a farm if I were a millionaire but I’d be on a very sharp learning curve.

I'm guessing you don't need farms then for your food or anything? Stop being such a bitter moron