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.

You have mis understood, there is no further relief.

It means the first million is tax free, everything over that is taxed at 20% - so a farm of value £2M would have a £200K tax bill

That can be settled over 10 years at £20K per year, which would hurt a small farmer.

Escalate the numbers and soon you are looking at large sums to be found annually, as many farms just break even, where is it coming from?

@Mosalahiwoukd family businesses also had IHT relief (rules also changing on that). Most people don’t pay IHT (think there is currently a thread showing 4% of estates end up paying IHT). Much higher % of farmers are going to be hit by this policy than your average family.

How about setting up a petition in gov.uk to address the issue OP? Mention about objectively what you would like to government to do.

I would love to protect as much working farm in the UK as possible. I have been predominately buying British farm produce and got a subscription for British farm produce myself btw.

Agricultural land is an important resource of a nation, even though it means making farmer "rich", I don't really mind as long as they are great in their skills. It's not easy to be a farmer after all as their living constantly threaten by weather and disease.

It's a business that feeds the nation not a property

Presumably that poster thinks carrots are made by Tesco in a factory near Milton Keynes.

Can’t tell her wheat from her beet. 😂

This!
Ties in nicely with their policy to increase housing stock though doesn't it...
Small farmer here with a 24 acre registered smallholding so really as small as you can get.

Due to high property values in Cheshire this would hit us hard, tbh I can't imagine any farms that wouldn't be affected by this new policy.

As we reach retirement age we can't afford or more correctly our daughter now can't afford to take over and pay the tax on our demise so what is currently a beautiful rural amenity will potentially end up being developed and lost.

Full sympathy @Spatulation we have a financial advisor coming out tomorrow so I will let you know if there is any way round this.

The only thing I can think at present is woodland hasn't lost its tax free status so potentially we need to get planting but returns are even lower than arable and won't do a thing for UK food security.

What does NFU have to say about it?

Why has Labour made this decision? Do billionaire farmers like Dyson, or all the grouse shooting estates have anything to do with this?

Land is such a contentious issue in the UK, it goes back to the very roots of discontent between lords and serfs. Try and help your father focus on active steps he can take each day. He's not alone.

So the IHT you had to pay was more than the value of her whole estate?

You have to pay IHT before you sell.

Yep.

The situation is dire for many farmers. It’s not just the issue of inheritance. But if you know you’re never going to take over the family farm, then you won’t work on it. And the reality is that those ‘small’ farms are usually multi generational thing (hence the farm has been in the OP’s family for a few generation already). Which then creates issues on whether you can carry on working the farm (need of some work force vs cost - so little money to be made from farming).

And then those farms that will need to be sold…. What impact on the price of the land? Who will buy them? And will be the impact on food production in the U.K.?
Its risky imo both short term re cost of food but also longer term if you are completely dependent from abroad re food when climate change will have such a huge impact on food availability and prices.

The end result of your very sad loss as a family will leave you all very wealthy so that's why posters may come across as unsympathetic

My family had a business related to farming and my uncle was the farmer so I do understand and we grieved the same way, my parents and uncles more than me

But we all have to adapt after loss, however the loss represents and you will all be able to go forward and basically live as if retired as you will have that much money

The NFU??

The organisation that told farmers they’d be better off out of the EU?

Useless

Again, smugly trite and missing the point entirely! 🤦🏼‍♀️

I haven't RTFT as I can't handle the realisation that there is so much envy and ignorance around.

OP, this is not the first time that the consequences of a fiscal decision have not been fully appreciated at the time. The threshold for the withdrawal of the winter fuel allowance is the most recent example that comes to mind. What typically happens is that those affected and their sympathisers band together to make their case. If this is strong enough, then it results in the government saying either 'unintended consequence, we'll do something different' or 'we've lost too much public support on this one, we'll do something different'. Or sometimes, the policy stands but it's amended with some relief for those most unjustly affected or unreasonably disadvantaged. In the meantime, trade associations, unions or whatever will be taking advice and relaying it to their members.

At this point I would not be heading off to take individual advice from estate planners who are not also farming specialists. Let the NFU organise and fund that. Take heart from the people on here who do understand even though we're not farmers ourselves. There are many more of us who support you than this thread would have you believe. Look after your dad, tell him it's not over yet and give him our thanks for a lifetime's hard work.

Where do you live? I don't know any farmers who do this in north Wales, and some are quite successful.

The lack of empathy and the envy is showing.

They should call it what it is… the forced sale of family owned farmland.

Cheaper than the legal costs associated with seizing land assets for capital projects like giant solar farms. Which is what this is all about after all.

He needs to hand the ownership over to the next generation now. Get some tax advice. I’m sorry your dad is feeling like this but there are ways around it.

Oh, hang on. I think I misunderstood and that poster is saying they haven't been able to sell their parent's assets yet?

I don’t understand if farming is so awful and the suicide rate is so high why would you want to take over the farm? Cash out and have £5m

The NFU didn't do that as far as I remember.
At least in Wales, both the NFU and FUW were against Brexit as were most educated farmers. Some of the farmers themselves were pro Brexit.

All these people hoping the Tories will win next time might reflect on how we got into the current terrible financial situation in the first place.

Family legacy maybe.

You’re assuming it’s the result of mere incompetence. Sadly I think it’s very deliberate policy infused with belligerent communist dogma (brought on by intellectual incompetence of course…)
Like with the VAT on school fees, I fear that the idiots are not for turning …

@Solomotree that sounds a bit like posters telling teachers if they don’t like the job just quit. We have seen the impact on schools with teachers leaving. What happens if farmers sell up? Who is going to buy all these farms?