James Browne
Question:148. Deputy James Browne asked the Minister for Finance the amount of stamp duty liable for a purchase of agricultural land to the value of €150,000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10896/19]
View answerTuesday, 5 March 2019
Questions (148)
Written answers
I am advised by Revenue that, in the normal course of events, stamp duty is chargeable on the purchase of agricultural land at the rate of 6%. Land valued at €150,000 would therefore be liable to stamp duty of €9,000. However, in the absence of any specific details of the purchase involved, including any other acquisitions of land, it isn’t possible to say whether any relief or exemption from stamp duty would apply to the purchase.
Reliefs and exemptions that can apply to the purchase of agricultural land include the following:
Exemption for ‘young trained farmers’ : stamp duty is not payable where a person is under the age of 35 years and has obtained a recognised agricultural qualification and where certain other conditions in relation to the use of the land are met following the purchase. These conditions include
the requirement for a purchaser to spend at least 50% of his or her normal working time farming the land and to retain ownership of that land for a period of at least five years from the date of execution of the deed transferring the land.
Farm consolidation relief: where a Teagasc-approved consolidation of farmland takes place involving both a sale and purchase of land, stamp duty at a reduced rate of 1% is applied to the excess of the value of land purchased over the value of land disposed of, where the purchase and disposal take place within a 24-month period of each other.
Consanguinity relief : where agricultural land is purchased from certain relatives (such as parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles) stamp duty is chargeable at a reduced rate of 1% on the value of the land. Certain conditions must be met such as the requirement for the purchaser to farm the land or to lease it to someone who farms the land.
Full details of the available stamp duty reliefs and exemptions can be found in the “Property” section on the home page of the Revenue website (www.revenue.ie ) by following the “stamp duty” link. Alternatively, the purchaser of the agricultural land should be advised to contact his or her local Revenue office with full details of the circumstances involved to ascertain if any stamp duty reliefs or exemption apply to the purchase.