Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 99 seeks to provide a definition of agriculture relief as similar to that of stamp duty relief. Bizarrely, there is a different definition of stamp duty, as a result of which in order to avail of the enhanced relief, one has to be a young trained farmer. That was the position a number of years ago in the case of agriculture relief, but the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Michael Noonan, changed the definition to introduce a farmer, rather than a young trained farmer, test. It is the approach that should also be taken to stamp duty relief. Under the agriculture relief scheme, the age of the farmer does not come into it. If he or she is trained, he or she qualifies for agriculture relief. It should be the same in the case of stamp duty.

Many young farmers coming into the business are leasing land. We have discussed the way in which long-term leases are now the main avenue to release land. Many young farmers are coming into the business through that mechanism by entering into a long-term lease with a retiring farmer. When they get the land into their name down the road, they will be debarred from obtaining the enhanced relief because of the arbitrary age requirement under an historical system in place a number of years ago. The issue was examined in October 2014. At the time, the then Minister for Finance removed the age criterion in obtaining agriculture relief. My amendment proposes extending that provision to stamp duty to provide for consistency across the board in how Revenue deals with farmers.

It would ensure stamp duty and the transfer of property could be treated in a similar manner when it came to the definition of what was an eligible farmer.