Agricultural & Business Relief - Beyond the Basics for Accountants - Live at Your Desk

Introduction

This 6 hour session is aimed at accountants and tax advisers. It will consider the maximisation of the interaction of Business Relief (‘BR’) and Agricultural Relief (‘AR’) on a diversified farm and estate.

The advanced level session will outline the need for IHT planning now for the farm business with the Budget announcement of a £1m allowance and 50% relief thereafter.

This is enhanced by the move away from pure farming, considerations around the implications of claims for AR and BR around the Agriculture Act 2020, especially ELMs (Environmental Land Management schemes) and the need to ‘fill the subsidy gap’ with profitable diversification/rewilding and/or development projects including carbon credits.

What You Will Learn

This live and interactive broadcast will cover the following:

• The importance of farm values for AR and BR planning and the need for a strong quality probate valuation - impact of Foster case on ‘hope value’ and protection
• The basis of hope valuation s.160 following Foster - ‘top down’ v ‘bottom up’
• Land registration as part of AR/BR understanding
• Partnership property and the need for legal clarity = 50% BR and the impact of the Budget
• Partnership property and Trust Registration (‘TRS’) - BR impact
• The protection of a well drafted partnership agreement for maximising BR (and AR)
• The role of the executor in AR/BR understanding and planning for probate interaction
• The executor’s need to understand the AR/BR claim complexities, the approval and signing of the IHT 400
• The Estate of Thomas Gill, the farmhouse and the agricultural licence - AR and BR success
• The risk of a Larke v Nugus statement request, evidence of AR/ BR verification and planning at the will drafting stage to fully integrate with succession planning
• Using the power of the LPA (Lasting Power of Attorney) as an IHT planning tool
• The role of farm accounts as evidence of ownership - post Ham v Bell for AR/BR maximisation
• Lifetime gifting to protect AR/BR following the sidelined APPG report
• Heritage farm property used in a farming operation
• 50% AR and the impact of the Budget - the AHA (Agricultural Holdings Act) Tenancy 1986 and the FBT respectively - look at Agriculture Tenancy Reform under the Agriculture Act 2020
• Achieving 100% BR on let cottages - Balfour and Farmer - OTS suggestion of 80% trading % - the spectrum of trading and not trading
• New farm trading cases, e.g. Griffiths, Elliot Balnakeil, Blaenau Bach Farm, Babylon Farms, Heather Whyte and impact on the APR/BPR claims
• Reviewing AR on farm workers cottages and the role of the AST (assured short hold tenancy)
• The Kingsworthy Meadow Fisheries case and s.103(3) impact
• The cases of Vigne and Graham - tax tribunal guidance on liveries and furnished holiday accommodation (‘FHA’) - OTS positive review on FHA
• The availability of IHT reliefs for the stud and other ‘non-agricultural’ equine activities
• The role of the surviving spouse exemption post Budget 30 October 2024
• Techniques in completing the agricultural and equine elements of the IHT 400 to strengthen AR and BR claims with evidence and case history
• IHT penalties - the risk of unsupported/incorrect claims for AR/BR
• PI protection on the large quantum of AR/BR claims - the Mehjoo case and the ‘need for a specialist’

Recording of live sessions: Soon after the Learn Live session has taken place you will be able to go back and access the recording - should you wish to revisit the material discussed.