The Telegraph quotes Henry Fea on the rising interest in conditional exemption for landowners
min readA growing number of UK farmers are exploring whether they can use a little-known tax relief which would exempt them from Labour’s looming inheritance tax raid.
This 'little known' tax relief is called 'conditional exemption' and is technically a deferral of inheritance tax, which allows the owner to avoid paying death duties, provided they agree to look after the property or land and make it available for the general public to view.
Farmers have not needed to use the scheme until now, as agricultural property relief allowed land used for crops or rearing animals – as well as farm buildings, cottages and houses – to be exempt from inheritance tax.
Henry Fea, Partner, comments for The Telegraph on the rising interest:
Conditional exemption is undoubtedly on people’s radars. We have been discussing it in meetings with clients and people have raised it with us.
"Historically, most of the applications would have been in relation to objects and buildings, but there are six qualifying criteria, and the potentially very broad one is any ‘land which is of scenic, historic or scientific interest’.
"What land falls into that? Some fairly boring flat arable land without many hedgerows or areas of interest might struggle to qualify as outstanding scenic interest.
"But you would think there are plenty of farms that are in those areas, and that would therefore qualify. It’s just that so far, they haven’t needed to consider it.
Read the full piece in The Telegraph here (subscription required).
