Agricultural & Business Property Relief - Beyond the Basics

Introduction

This full day in-person seminar is aimed at private client solicitors, farm accountants and tax advisers. It will consider the maximisation of the interaction of Business Property Relief (BPR) and Agricultural Property Relief (APR) on a diversified farm and estate.

The advanced level session will outline the need for IHT planning NOW for the farm business, especially with the move away from pure farming, considerations around the implications of claims for APR and BPR around the Agriculture Act 2020, especially ELMs (Environmental Land Management schemes) and the need to “fill the subsidy gap” with profitable diversification/rewilding and/or development projects including carbon credits. The session will incorporate the Budget 2023.

What You Will Learn

The course will cover the following:

• The importance of farm values for APR and BPR planning and the need for a strong quality probate valuation - impact of Foster case on “hope value” and protection
• The basis of hope valuation s.160 following Foster - "top down" v "bottom up"
• Land registration as part of APR/BPR understanding
• Partnership property and the need for legal clarity = 100% BPR v 50% BPR, especially with high farm values
• Partnership property and Trust Registration (TRS)
• The protection of a well drafted partnership agreement for maximising BPR (and APR)
• The role of the executor in APR/BPR understanding
• The executor’s need to understand the approval and signing of the IHT 400 including APR/BPR Claims
• The Estate of Thomas Gill, the farmhouse and the agricultural licence
• The risk of a Larke v Nugus statement request, evidence of APR/ BPR verification and planning at the will drafting stage
• Using the power of the LPA (Lasting Power of Attorney) as an IHT planning tool
• The role of farm accounts as evidence - post Ham v Bell for APR/BPR maximisation and importance of quality for IHT 400
• Lifetime gifting to protect APR/BPR following the sidelined APPG report
• Heritage farm property used in a farming operation
• The difference between 100% APR and 50% APR - the AHA (Agricultural Holdings Act) Tenancy 1986 and the FBT respectively - look at Agriculture Tenancy Reform under the Agriculture Act 2020
• Achieving 100% BPR on let cottages - Balfour and Farmer - OTS suggestion of 80% trading % - the spectrum of trading and not trading
• New farm trading cases, e.g. Griffiths, Elliot Balnakeil, Blaenau Bach Farm, Babylon Farms, Heather Whyte and impact on the APR/BPR claims
• Reviewing APR on farm workers cottages and the role of the AST (assured short hold tenancy)
• The recent cases of Vigne, Graham and Firth - tax tribunal guidance on liveries and furnished holiday accommodation (FHA) and the apart-hotel
• The availability of IHT reliefs for the stud and other ‘non-agricultural’ equine activities
• Techniques in completing the agricultural and equine elements of the IHT 400 to strengthen APR and BPR claims with evidence and case history
• IHT penalties - the risk of unsupported/incorrect claims for APR/BPR
• PI protection on the large quantum of APR/BPR claims - the Mehjoo case and the ‘need for a specialist’