Farmers are urging for all actively farmed land to be permanently removed from the scope of the Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT).

Farmers will be eagerly awaiting to see what Budget 2026 might bring in relation to the RZLT.

It is a longstanding practice of the Minister for Finance not to comment in advance of the budget on any tax matters which might be the subject of budget decisions, so there has not yet been any future arrangements confirmed for agricultural land in relation to the RZLT.

The RZLT aims to increase housing supply by activating zoned, serviced residential development lands for housing and to incentivise landowners to use relevant existing planning permissions.

The introduction of this tax was committed to in Housing for All, the government's housing plan to 2030, as a measure to increase supply.

The RZLT is an annual tax in place from 2025, calculated at a rate of 3% of the market value of the land within its scope

The RZLT is a self-assessed tax and Revenue said that landowners are expected to take all reasonable steps to determine whether they have an RZLT liability and, if so, to ensure they meet their pay and file obligations.

Local authorities prepare and publish maps identifying land within the scope of the RZLT.

These annually revised final maps are to be published by local authorities each year.

Local authorities will update these maps annually to include any additional land which falls within the scope of the tax and to exclude any land that has fallen outside the scope of the tax.

Landowners must check these maps to assess if their property is chargeable to the RZLT.

If certain conditions were met this year, a landowner could claim an exemption from the 2025 liability on foot of making a request.

Landowners would have submitted a written request for the rezoning of land to the local authority in whose functional area the land is situated earlier this year.

Landowners who made a rezoning request could then claim an exemption from the 2025 liability where certain conditions are met.

According to the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA), the government "listened and understood the unfairness" of the RZLT being imposed on farmers in Budget 2025, and introduced the exception based on agricultural economic activity.

However, this is a one-year exemption - which farmers are now urging to be made permanent.

IFA's farm business chair Bill O'Keeffe told Agriland that with the new National Development Plan, there is "more ground being zoned all the time for residential".

The IFA has expressed concern that many farmers will have to sell their owned land as they may not afford the annual RZLT.

"At the moment even the exemption is costing farmers, some farmers are having to pay professional fees to make sure they qualify for the exemption," he said.

O'Keeffe said some farmers were confident to go through the process themselves, however others have employed professionals potentially costing them thousands.

O'Keeffe said that the exemption in place for farmland is only in place for 2025 and at the moment, there is no arrangement in place for 2026.

"We want a permanent arrangement in place that takes actively farmed land out of the RZLT," he added.

He said the IFA is also willing to discuss any options that may include an "incentive to farmers to sell ground for residential development", which could be a "lot more attractive" to farmers, giving them an option, without "trying to force them with a tax into mobilising ground".