Transfer of outlying farm from mother (pre-pension) to non-farming son

J

jerryob

Guest
My parents have a number of small non-adjoining farm holdings, one of which is in my mothers name. She will be getting the pension in a months time and wants to sign over this land to me. Guided by responses to previous posts, I still have a couple questions....

But first: the situation. The land in question is ~17 acres, with a (derelict ) house and a (derelict) stable on it. Mom should qualify for retirement relief on it, so no CGT issues there. Regarding my CAT liability, I will not qualify for Agricultural relief - I recently moved out of my house in Dublin (now rented out; value ~€300k) into my, now, wifes place valued at ~€240k. However, I'm hoping the land valuation will not break the €520k threshold, so I should be ok there. I do not intend demolishing and rebuilding the house in the near future, but plan in years to come to do so for a holiday home(?).

I'm in the process of pulling together a hi-tech startup, so paying 4.5% stamp duty (assuming assets will be valued over €150k) to taxman will be very painful - it'll mean a personal loan, this reducing what I can put into the startup. However, I certainly don't want my mother's pension affected by NOT signing over the land to me.

I have two questions:
i) what are my options for reducing my tax liability? Will the fact that buildings are derelict simplify the assets into "a site and ~17 acres agri land" (there is some road frontage).
ii) would keeping the land in my mothers name reduce here pension payments? I ask, as if there are no pension implications for my Mom by holding on to it, then it might be better for her to will it to me, thus removing my stamp duty liabilities, upon inheritence.
 
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