The Finance Bill, published on Thursday, failed to deal with the proposed changes to income tax relief on leased farm land.
In his budget speech on 10 October, Minister Michael McGrath said: “The Land Leasing Income Tax Relief will be amended so that it only becomes available when the land has been owned for seven years, so that it is better targeted to active farmers.”
There were no details on the measure in the bill, with the Department of Finance saying that these changes will now be dealt with at committee stage. This is due, they said, to the “complex nature of drafting certain requirements”.
Farming measures which are included in the bill are:
Corporation Tax increase
In farm-adjacent industries, the big change coming is the increase in Corporation Tax from 12.5% to 15% for some companies.
This rule change is part of a global push for a minimum tax rate of 15% for businesses.
In Ireland, that rule will generally apply to multinationals. However, Irish companies with an annual turnover of greater than €750m will also fall into the 15% net.
This means Ireland’s largest co-ops may be subject to the higher rate of tax.
There is no need for any Irish company to panic yet, as various deferral rules mean it will be five years before the higher rate becomes effective.