Finance Act 2017

Farm consolidation relief

68. (1) Section 81C of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by substituting “24 months” for “18 months” in each place where it occurs,

(b) in subsection (1)(a)—

(i) by deleting the definition of “PPS Number”, and

(ii) in the definition of “relevant period”—

(I) by substituting “1 January 2018” for “1 July 2007”, and

(II) by substituting “31 December 2020” for “30 June 2009”,

(c) in subsection (3), by substituting “at the rate of one per cent on an instrument executed on or after 1 January 2018” for “on the instrument”,

(d) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (6):

“(6) A claim for relief under subsection (3) or a claim for relief by way of repayment under subsection (5), made to the Commissioners under this section, shall be allowed where it is the intention of the person purchasing the land to—

(a) retain ownership of his or her interest in the qualifying land, and

(b) use the qualifying land for farming,

for a period of not less than 5 years from the date on which the first claim for relief in respect of the qualifying land is made.”,

(e) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (7):

“(7) This section shall not apply to an instrument unless it contains a certificate, by the person or persons to whom the land is conveyed or transferred by the instrument, to the effect that that person is or those persons are, as the case may be, entitled to claim relief in accordance with this section.”,

(f) by deleting subsection (8),

(g) in subsection (9)(c)—

(i) by substituting “a certificate referred to in subsection (7)” for “a declaration referred to in paragraph (d) or (e) of subsection (6)”,

(ii) by substituting “the person or persons to whom the land is conveyed or transferred by the instrument” for “the person or persons who made such a declaration”, and

(iii) by deleting “due to all the facts not having been truthfully declared”,

(h) by deleting subsection (9)(d),

(i) in subsection (10)—

(i) in paragraph (b), by substituting “under paragraph (a) or (c)” for “under paragraph (a), (c) or (d)”,

(ii) in paragraph (c), by substituting “under paragraph (c) of subsection (9), and” for “under paragraph (c) or (d) of subsection (9),”,

(iii) in paragraph (d), by substituting “under paragraph (a) of subsection (9).” for “under paragraph (a) or (d), as the case may be, of subsection (9), and”, and

(iv) by deleting paragraph (e),

and

(j) in subsection (12)—

(i) by substituting “1 January 2018” for “1 July 2007”, and

(ii) by substituting “31 December 2020” for “30 June 2011”.

(2) Subsection (1) comes into operation on such day as the Minister for Finance may appoint by order.