Over 120 land agents, chartered surveyors, bankers, landowners, and farmers from across East Anglia attended a recent seminar on farming partnerships.
The seminar entitled ‘Farming Partnerships – is yours a tool or a timebomb?’, which took place at Ravenwood Hall, Rougham, Bury St Edmunds was organised by Chartered Accountants Ensors and commercial law firm Howes Percival. The event was designed to give delegates a practical understanding of the different types of partnership agreements, covering the potential benefits and pitfalls of each, as well as advice on making an agreement work efficiently and how to maximise any tax allowances/benefits.
Graham Page, Partner and Head of the Ensors’ Agricultural team said, “Investment in farming businesses and agricultural property is quite often seen as a secure tax haven. Experience tells us however, that many are not fully aware of how the structure of their business can dramatically affect the capital tax reliefs that may be available. This seminar was developed to help guide people through the various pitfalls that exist. The popularity of this event has demonstrated the importance of this area – with increasing values of agricultural property there is more to lose through unplanned capital taxes.”
Howes Percival’s Head of Estates, Jeremy Heal, commented, “It’s easy to put land into the farm balance sheet, and there are many good reasons to do so, but it does have many repercussions in the real world.
“With the soaring price of farmland the figures are large, and there is an ever greater risk of an unexpected tax bill or a family feud unless the partners have recently read – and really understood – the Partnership Agreement. We’re aiming to contribute to that understanding through events like this. The seminar was extremely well attended, demonstrating that partnerships and tax planning are real issues for the farming community.”
Picture shows, from left to right, Richard Lovett (Howes Percival), Jeremy Heal (Howes Percival) and Danny Clifford (Ensors)
