The 2022 deadline to join a registered farm partnership is looming. Farmers who want a registered farm partnership number, in order to apply for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in May, must submit an application before February 11, 2022.
At a recent Teagasc Beef Edge podcast, Collaborative Farming Specialist Gordon Peppard explained that a registered farm partnership is a formal business structure that’s recognised by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
It must have a minimum of two partners, and up to a maximum of 10 partners.
There are two types:
– An intra-family partnership, where a parent goes into partnership with their child or children
– An inter-family registered farm partnership, where neighbouring farms join together to increase scale or efficiency
Registration requires either a Category 1 applicant – a farmer who has farmed in their own right on a minimum of 3ha for at least the previous two years; or, the second person in the partnership, can be either Category 1 or Category 2 applicant – who has to have a minimum of a Level 6 agricultural qualification and a minimum of a 20% profit share in the registered farm partnership.
There are social and the financial benefits for both.
One being the maximisation of lower-rate of income tax. Benefits also apply to farm scheme applications – as part of the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) an individual is allowed a ceiling on grant aid of up to €80,000.
To take advantage of this an application form needs to be filled out and some agreements must also be completed.
See here for guidelines.
LSL News.