Two thirds of the value of farm transactions will continue to be exempt from the stamp duty live register, according to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed.

Budget 2020 was announced by Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe in the Dáil at 1:00pm this afternoon.

Speaking to AgriLand at the Government press centre, at the Department of the Taoiseach in Government buildings earlier this evening, Tuesday, October 8, the minister said:

I think what’s important to say is that the trained young farmer exemption continues; the consanguinity relief, which is a farm transferred to defined relatives, continues at a rate of 1%.

“So my understanding is that two thirds of the value of farm transactions will continue to be exempt from the stamp duty live register,” the minister said.

This follows the news earlier today that stamp duty has increased from 6% to 7.5% on commercial land transactions.

In last year’s budget, Section 46 of the Finance Bill 2018 provided for the extension of the young trained farmer stamp duty relief for a further three years – up until the end of 2021.

This relief provides for a full exemption on stamp duty on transfers of farmland to certain young trained farmers.

This exemption from stamp duty is designed to encourage the transfer of farmland to a new generation of farmers with relevant qualifications. The transfer may be by way of gift or sale.

In addition, in Budget 2019, in the case of farmland, the scope of consanguinity relief was widened, meaning that most inter-family land transfers could avail of a reduced rate of 1% where the transfer occurs on or before December 31, 2020.