Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 March 2004
76 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the submissions he made to the Department of Finance regarding income tax relief for land leasing in the Finance Act 2004; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9294/04]
View answerOn 5 November 2003 I made a submission to my colleague the Minister for Finance seeking that the rental income exemption for long-term leases, which was, at that time, available only to farmers over 55 years, be extended.
On budget day 2004, the Minister for Finance announced that the age limit for qualifying lessors was being reduced from 55 to 40 years and that the annual exemption thresholds were being increased from €5,079 to €7,500 for leases of five to seven years and from €7,618 to €10,000 for leases of seven years or more. Those changes were made effective from 1 January 2004.
The changes will encourage better utilisation of land and will facilitate better long-term planning by farmers who may wish to scale up production at a reasonable cost. The measure is estimated to be worth €13 million in a full year.
