Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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279. To ask the Minister for Finance if agricultural tax relief on the investment of money in agricultural land for a period of two years following inheritance will be retained in the Finance Bill 2024; the estimated amount of additional revenue the removal of this relief would generate in a full year; if he appreciates the importance of the relief for farm families; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44617/24]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Sections 100 and 101 of the Finance Bill 2024 (as initiated) provide for the introduction of a revised form of relief from Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT) for gifts and inheritances of agricultural property where certain conditions are met.

The revised agricultural relief will be provided for in a new section 89A of the Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act (CATCA) 2003 and will apply to gifts and inheritances of agricultural property, and will replace the existing agricultural relief that is provided for in section 89 of the CATCA 2003. I will bring an amendment at Committee stage of the Finance Bill to provide that these provisions will be subject to a commencement order.

The existing agricultural relief, as provided for in section 89 of the CATCA 2003, is available in respect of gifts and inheritances of non-agricultural property such as cash where the gift or inheritance is made subject to the condition that it is invested in agricultural property within a 2-year period.

Subject to the enactment of the Finance Bill, after the commencement of these sections, a beneficiary will not be entitled to claim agricultural relief in respect of gifts and inheritances of non-agricultural property such as cash where the gift or inheritance.

Estimates provided for Budget 2025 indicated that these amendments should yield in the region of fifteen million Euro. The Department used a number of data sources and made certain assumptions to develop a model to arrive at an estimated Exchequer impact. The model incorporated variables including level of investor activity in farmland, current land price inflation and baseline inflation.

These sections are being made subject to a ministerial commencement order to allow time for further engagement and consultation with stakeholders, and ensure that there are no unintended consequences in relation to this measure, which is targeted at transfers of agricultural property from one generation of farmers to the next.