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.

@Chonk & @NotaCoolMum I thought the exact same thing. Disgusting title.

OP I'm really concerned about this too. I listen to the Archers. Some of the people here are ignorant. I think the reason is to close a loophole where people are able to designate non farmed land as farmed to avoid IT. I hope genuinely farmed land is protected. Good for your son to aspire to take over.

I feel for you. This government really have no clue about farming.

Why do you have to wait to inherit? Why can’t he transfer the farm to you now to avoid this tax?

To be honest, I don't give a shiny shite what you think to the title. It's pretty irrelevant isn't it? Have you even bothered to read the thread?

I won't be the only one with parents/a parent thinking that they need to die. Yes, it's pretty fucking vile.

Working farms are currently exempt from inheritance tax. Not any more. Anything over £1m is now subject to it. At around £12k per acre average 240 acre farm will be £2.8m plus buildings. So say £3m. That's £2m subject to iht before any additional value of the farmers estate. This will leave the next generation of farmers with a circa £500-800k tax bill when the farm is passed down.

So expect them to sell off land for housing or be broken apart.

This is a knife in the back for a sector of society that quite literally puts food on our tables.

Silly question, but what has stopped him, or is stopping handing the ownership of the farm over already?

Or at least some of it, if not all of it? has he had any sort of financial planning advice?

I don't know that much about it really

But I think that only a fairly small farm would be worth a few million, right? It's the land, of course that it's on.

Which, if sold, isn't a farm any more. Which won't create food, cattle etc.

Hence op's concerns!.

It's more disgusting that everything the family have worked damn hard for will be gone. Farming is in your blood.

People don't like the idea that people will inherit money. Money "you haven't worked for" is generally disliked on MN so you have been on the recieving end of that narrative. Farming and the resulting food security is really vital and I'm sorry that your dad is despairing. Please get some immediate financial advice.

@Elzzup none of the farming families I know send their kids to private schools. Lots of farmers rent. Those who own are usually asset rich (the farm land) but cash poor.

I think that title was written by someone in absolute despair

^

Clearly. Most of us realise that

Honestly, what is wrong with some people on this thread. OP has said that her father is suicidal over this.

OP I'm sorry this thread is attracting such moronic responses. True race-to-the-bottom MN-style nastiness, largely from people who don't even seem to understand the issue.

Rachel is not a fan of these patriarchal structures is she.
To be honest inherited wealth can’t be the only way of producing food.

God people are so short sighted and fucking pathetic…
Continuity of farm land ownership is vital for food security and the countryside. Are people really too thick to see that?
If families like the OP’s are forced to sell off their land it will either end up in the hands of big evil conglomerates with terrible food production practices, fracking companies and the like, or turned into housing estates.
i think that is probably precisely the plan of this terrible government which is positively salivating at the prospect of building all over the green belt.
But tiny minded people cannot see past their own petty envy and spite.
I am so sorry OP, this sounds devastating for you.

Or ‘her’.

I’m really sorry OP and couldn’t give two figs about your title, it’s clear what you meant and people are just being sanctimonious. I hope that this is all ironed out and working farmers can effectively lobby for some changes, as seems like bad consequences for food production and security otherwise. Good to remove incentives for avoiding IHT through owning land but needs to be a way to prevent working farms being broken up.

May I ask. The inheritance tax is for after death not before it. it needs to be given to the next generation down. It will stimulate younger people to take over and make decisions instead of older people holding the strings to the next generations life decisions. Speak to a farm tax advisor instead of reeling into a panic set off by others. Farms are not big profit makers (very little returns for all the hours worked) but if they were to go down all the related businesses in rural areas would collapse e.g vet, tractor sales/parts/, fencing materials/ shed/gate producers and suppliers, hardware shops. animal feed suppliers, marts, lorry drivers......it supports all of those all year around

No need to as no inheritance tax until today.....

People on less than £400 per month UC contemplate suicide a lot..that's what happens when you don't have a pot to piss in and have to go hungry.

I'm sure they would swap with you. Perhaps get counselling to work on your resilience knowing you're among the richest families in the country

Yes it’s hilariously ironic that it’s the same people wanting to get their hands on money that they definitely haven’t worked for! Communism eh?

Some really ugly sentiments on this thread, giving a very unsavoury insight into just how much bitterness and jealous reside in some people’s hearts. Ugh.

OP, as a resolute urbanite who’s never lived in the country in her life, I am appalled at just how thick Labour are being in enacting this policy. It is incredibly short sighted and ignorant to jeopardise the nation’s food security, for one thing, let alone the personal hardships this will cause. Labour have long had a reputation for ignorance about country matters. I had hoped they had become more thoughtful and willing to listen. Clearly not.

This is tragic, not only for affected farmers, but the nation. I hope your Dad can find peace and a tolerable solution.

I heard speculation tonight that farms or part of farms being sold would be land for all the housing we need. Speculation but it makes you think!

The OP has an issue now because there hasn’t been succession planning quickly enough. Due to the IHT exemption, older farmers did not need to pass it on to family 7 years before they die. They didn’t need to even think about gifts. Now they do. Every farmer needs help to plan and even the OPs dad might (will) live a few more years and then the taper should apply to the tax or no tax at all. Unless there are gift limits? Are there? At the very least do something now.

This is a huge blow to farmers and many don’t make vast sums of money. They supply us with food and their contribution is valuable. At £6m this is quite a big farm and planning its future will need serious consideration now. I think the £1m threshold was way too low but the chancellor did not bother to understand farming or business or business growth. She thinks taxing stimulates growth.

I think you're getting a hard time because the thread title is so horrible. As someone who lost a parent when I was young, it made me feel a bit ill and I was feeling really negative towards you when I opened the thread. Your thread itself is totally different and I'm really sorry for the situation you and your dad find yourselves in. It's not fair and I can understand the despair you feel. But I can see that lots of posters won't see past the awful title. You might want to get it changed if you want proper responses.