Conacre threat still remains
12 December 2009
Jim Allister QC, Leader of TUV, has cautioned that this week’s letter to Executive Ministers from the Treasury on Agriculture Property Relief does not resolve the difficulties created by the McClean judgement in respect of Inheritance Tax and land with development hope value let in conacre.
In a statement Mr Allister said:
“The attempt by the Finance and Agriculture Ministers to spin the letter from Treasury as positively as possible should not delude anyone into thinking that the McClean judgement has been in any way circumvented or diminished.
“In essence all the Treasury has done is to reiterate that Inheritance Tax Agricultural Property Relief generally applies to land, whether let in conacre or not, which has been in family possession for 7 years, and which passes from one generation to another. But the damaging McClean ruling that if the land has hope development value then Business Property Relief does not apply and Inheritance Tax is payable on its development value, still stands.
“It is this which requires reversal through legislative change and though the Treasury undertakes to examine the situation there is yet no commitment to make the necessary change, which can only be effectively done through legislation.
So the campaign to protect families from the adverse impact of the McClean ruling must go on.”
