Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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45. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if there has been a change on the farm assist forms which does not allow expenses to be detailed; if so, the reason such a change took place; if she will clarify that expenses are still to be deducted in the farm assist means test approach; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38569/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Farm assist is a means-tested income support scheme for farmers. To qualify for the payment, a customer must be a farmer, farming land in the State, aged between 18 and 66 and satisfy a means test.

The means test for Farm Assist takes account of almost every form of income but assesses it in different ways and disregards various amounts. Different rules apply to income from farming and other forms of self-employment, income from certain schemes such as the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme (REPS) and Agri-Environmental Options Scheme (AEOS), income from employment and income from property and capital.

The application form for the Farm Assist scheme asks the customer to supply farm receipts and invoices in date order to confirm income, sales, purchases and expenses covering the last 12 months.

The application and the farm review form do not have space to outline farm outgoings as it would typically not be feasible for customers to list details of entire farm operating costs for the previous 12 month period on an application or review form. A customer can supply details of outgoings separately as an attachment with the completed application and the review form if they so wish.

An examination of farm outgoings is, however, included in the assessment process and the social welfare inspector takes a detailed account of all operating costs when interviewing the customer.

Income and expenditure figures for the preceding year are generally used as an indicator of the expected position in the following year. Details of any exceptional circumstances are also taken into account so as to ensure that the assessment accurately reflects the current situation. This gives the customer a good opportunity to explain both the income generated and the operating costs associated with the farm directly with an inspector.