Brassil welcomes easing of budget stamp duty demand

FIANNA Fáil TD John Brassil has said that his party has secured agreement from the Minister for Finance to waive the 67 years or under limit on transferring farm land to family members to allow them avail of the current 1 per cent Stamp Duty rate.

“There has been a lot of disquiet among farm families since Budget 2018 was announced last week and the decision to increase stamp duty on farmland sales from 2 per cent to 6 per cent overnight,” Deputy Brassil said.

The party is claiming credit for securing a significant climbdown in the way the duty is to be levied, however: “This decision has caused serious concern in farming circles, and Fianna Fáil, conscious of the need to protect family farms, has engaged with Minister Donohoe to secure a waiving of the 67 year old upper limit for the next three years to allow older generations of farmers transfer their land at a reduced stamp duty rate.”

The measure would have had serious implications for the transfer of land from one generation to the next in Kerry: “If the 6 per cent rate had been implemented, it may have caused many farmers in Kerry to reconsider whether it was advantageous for them to transfer to the next generation of farmers in their family. This could have had very serious repercussions for farming. A lot of work has taken place over the past five years to entice older farmers to transfer their land to their sons and daughters,” he said.