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Agricultural Relief: what Revenue says, and where our calculators end

Revenue pages read . Published by K Imports; this is a summary of Revenue guidance, not tax or legal advice.

Count.ie has no farm tax calculator

The farming calculators on Count.ie are agronomy and farm-arithmetic models, such as seeding rate, nutrients, forage requirement, silage clamp stock and the Income Tax relief on leasing farmland. None of them computes Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT) on a gift or inheritance of a farm, and none decides whether you qualify for agricultural relief.

What the relief does

Revenue states that agricultural relief reduces the taxable value of qualifying agricultural property, including land, by 90%. The relief is subject to conditions. If the property does not qualify, Revenue notes it may qualify for Business Relief instead.

Where the relief applies, liabilities, costs and expenses deducted from the value of the assets are also reduced by 90%, according to the CAT Manual.

The conditions, as the CAT Manual describes them

  • Agricultural property. Land, pasture and woodland in the EU or UK; growing crops, trees and underwood; farm buildings and houses proportionate to the farming; machinery, livestock and bloodstock situated on that land; and EU single farm payment entitlements. Market gardens, factory farms and fish farms are not agricultural property unless part of the agricultural land.
  • 80% asset test. On the valuation date, at least 80% of the gross market value of the beneficiary's property, including the gift or inheritance, must be agricultural property. Debts on agricultural property are not deducted; a mortgage on an off-farm private home used to buy, improve or repair it is.
  • Active farmer test. The beneficiary must farm commercially for at least 6 years from the valuation date and hold a specified qualification, or spend at least 50% of normal working time farming, or lease substantially all of the property for at least 6 years to someone who meets one of those conditions.
  • Retention. The property must be retained for at least 6 years. For gifts and inheritances on or after 1 January 2024 the period runs from the valuation date.

Clawback

Revenue says the relief is withdrawn if the property is disposed of within 6 years of the valuation date and the proceeds are not used to replace it with agricultural property, or if the person who claimed it (or a lessee) stops being an active farmer within that period. Tax is then recalculated as if the asset were not agricultural property.

Household mistakes the manual's examples warn about

  • Counting the wrong date. The conditions are tested on the valuation date. For a gift that is the date of the gift; for an inheritance it is usually the date the grant of probate or administration issues, per the CAT Manual. The date of death is not automatically the valuation date.
  • Relying on a spouse's farming. The manual says the beneficiary must meet the conditions personally and that farming by the beneficiary's spouse will not satisfy the requirement.
  • Deducting farm debt in the asset test. No deduction is allowed for debts or charges on agricultural property. The manual's example counts a €1,000,000 farm, €100,000 of machinery and €75,000 of livestock gross, and deducts only the mortgage on the beneficiary's own off-farm home.
  • Selling soon after. In the manual's example, land inherited in 2020 was reduced from €500,000 to €50,000 for CAT. It was sold in 2022 and the proceeds went into an investment property rather than agricultural property, so the relief was clawed back and the tax recalculated.
  • Waiting to start farming. Revenue will not refuse relief where a beneficiary genuinely cannot start at once but begins actively farming within one year after the valuation date; the 6 years then run from when farming starts.
  • Assuming cash qualifies. A gift or inheritance of non-agricultural property such as cash can qualify only if it is made subject to a condition that it is invested in agricultural property, and that is done within 2 years.

Two different taxes, two different calendars

Agricultural relief belongs to Capital Acquisitions Tax, which falls on the person who receives a gift or inheritance. The Form 11 Pay and File dates quoted above belong to Income Tax self-assessment on a farmer's own profits for the 2025 year, including a landlord's rent from leased land. A farm transfer can create both: CAT for the beneficiary, and later Income Tax on farm income or rent. Meeting one deadline does not satisfy the other, and the farmland lease calculator covers only the Income Tax relief on leasing, not CAT.

This summary quotes Revenue's wording where possible but cannot cover every circumstance and is not a guarantee of qualification. Whether a particular farm, trust, lease or partial transfer qualifies is for Revenue's own guidance and a qualified adviser.

Dates: what is and is not confirmed

For the 2025 Income Tax Return (Form 11), Revenue's filing page states the Pay and File deadline is , or if you pay and file on ROS. See the pay and file guide. That is an Income Tax deadline, not a CAT one.

Count.ie has not confirmed CAT return or payment deadlines for a specific gift or inheritance, and the Revenue pages read for this guide mention no change to agricultural relief for 2027. Check Revenue and the Finance Bill for any Budget 2027 change before relying on it. Do not treat the absence of a mention here as confirmation that nothing changed.

What the farming calculators do cover

All farming and agriculture calculators

Official sources

Outputs elsewhere on the site are purely estimates and not formal financial advice; verify with Revenue.ie or a qualified accountant. Farm succession needs a solicitor or tax adviser.