Grants/Tax advice own sheep

Gilally

Hi all, we bought 30 sheep a few months ago and keep them on leased mountain land. My husband is a part time PAYE worker we started this to try and increase our income:rolleyes:. They are all ewes and we have a ram running with them since Novemer so we hope to breed. Just wondering if we are entitled to anything grants or tax relief wise? Could my husband offset the price of the sheep as stock against tax credits? Could we get grants to build a shed or improve the land?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Username John

Gilally wrote: »

Hi all, we bought 30 sheep a few months ago and keep them on leased mountain land. My husband is a part time PAYE worker we started this to try and increase our income:rolleyes:. They are all ewes and we have a ram running with them since Novemer so we hope to breed. Just wondering if we are entitled to anything grants or tax relief wise? Could my husband offset the price of the sheep as stock against tax credits? Could we get grants to build a shed or improve the land?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Grants - only one I am aware of now is Sheep handling & fencing
See some info here & here

Re building a shed / improving land - no grant, but you can claim VAT back on these items, same for fencing. See here

Tax relief - if you are farming commercially then you can offset any losses you make against your PAYE income. But then - when you make any money, you have to pay tax on it too
So you should be able to claim for the stock, plus what you pay for leasing the land plus any other expenses...

Best of luck with it

Gilally

Many thanks for your reply, we are not paying anything for the leasing of our land as my FIL is leasing it us in order to get our herd number.

Could I just ask a number of probably really daft questions as I am completely useless and my FIL is ill at the moment so I would rather not ask him!

How would I know if the land is part of Natura 20000 site?
Does the sheep fencing (TAMS) apply to new fencing on the land? or would it involve repairing and re doing old fencing?

thanks again.

Gilally

Also when you say farming commercially, do you mean I need to be registered for business tax reasons? How can I offset my paye earnings against cost of sheep for example.

razor8

stock would be considered a capital expenditure which would be spread out over a few years, you maybe able to claim stock relief also but you may need a ag cert and be under 35

there is also land rental relief. but it needs to be a long term leave to avail of this

my advice is to get an accounant on board, will cost you about €300 per year but would be well worth it

some one had a very good article on entitlements before, i will try and fine it for you

Username John

Gilally wrote: »

How would I know if the land is part of Natura 20000 site?
Does the sheep fencing (TAMS) apply to new fencing on the land? or would it involve repairing and re doing old fencing?

thanks again.

Natura 2000 - No idea am afraid.
TAMS - Its for new fencing, but that doesnt mean it cannot replace an older fence, if you know what I mean.
You'd want to look it into a bit to see if it suited you or not. You might qualify, there are entry criteria, so you might not get it - but its you would have to use the correct (read expensive) materials. No doubt it would be a good job once done, just be aware of it.

Gilally wrote: »

Also when you say farming commercially, do you mean I need to be registered for business tax reasons? How can I offset my paye earnings against cost of sheep for example.

I say commercial as somone posted this link on one of the threads here last week.
I am not sure how they would prove whats hobby and whats not, just something to keep in mind is all

How can you offset expenses - I just send it all to my accountant, so not much help here. There are accountants on here which would be better able to answer this than I. Its something I must look into myself actually.

razor8

natura 2000

check this link out

http://www.npws.ie/mapsanddata/?agreecheck=on&Submit=I+Accept

Mongarra

Purchase of stock is not considered a capital item.

How it works is you value the stock at the end of the year at cost or 75% of value (whichever is the lower) and the difference between this and the cost (or, after the first year, the opening stock figure) gives a profit or loss. This also takes into account any births or deaths in the year. The profit is added to any sales (or if a loss it is subtracted from the sales) and this gives the Gross profit.

Any costs such as Veterinary, doses/medicines, feed, telephone, light and heat, motor/tractor and machinery running expenses, fertiliser, land rent (although not in your case as you do not pay rent), repairs, protective clothing (wellies, overalls), insurance, levies, haulage, interest on money borrowed for the business (on stock, buildings, machinery) -(just some examples) are then subtracted from the Gross profit to give a nett (or net as most spell it now) profit or loss.

An allowance of 12.5% on cost or value of machinery (feeders, tractor, trailers, muck spreader/fertiliser spinner), sheds and motor vehicles (with an adjustment for non-business use) is also given. When this is subtracted from the nett profit that is the taxable figure. If a loss has arisen the 12.5% increases the loss and this figure can be set against other income of the year (for example PAYE income or other self-employed income).

There are other matters (such as stock relief and income averaging) that may or may not be beneficial so, as suggested earlier, seeing an accountant would be a good move. I am not sure €300 would cover it but you can discuss this before committing yourselves.

razor8

Check this attachment out, it explains everything about taxation

Gilally

Many thanks ye have been most helful.