Greencert needed to inherit forestry?

isabel.hazel

Hi all,

I am 25yo and due to inherit the family farm. Our farm is 150ac and currently 50ac of that is in planted forestry with Irish Wood Producers. In the coming years as part of his retirement plan- Dad plans to plant the rest of the fields in forestry (bar the odd few paddocks which will be left as grass for small animals)

Therefore by the time I am eventually to inherit the land- 95% of it will be in forestry and not working grassland/fields. Does anyone know If I am required still to have a GreenCert to inherit forestry? Seeing as the land technically won't be "working agricultural land" anymore and it will be tied into forestry for the foreseeable future? Will I still need to have a GreenCert for tax purposes? Or is that not relevant to forestry?

For further context I am living abroad at the moment and need to plan if I need to move home for a year or two to get the GreenCert done - so all is in order for farm transfer and we have our ducks in a row.

Any insights appreciated from anyone who has inherited land in forestry or anyone who has transferred it to children or plans to.

Thanks in advance.

Siamsa Sessions

Two quick things:

(1) Talk to an accountant about how inheritance tax works with respect to the green-cert and how forestry is interpreted. It's a legal/financial question more than anything else.

(2) Do the green-cert anyway 😀 I did it by blended learning in 2018-19 and enjoyed it. There are several options for doing it now and lots of ag colleges dotted around the country. You could possibly do it online, with perhaps one trip home per month for an on-site day. That's assuming you're in the UK or Europe, and not America or Australia.

The only downside is that you might discover a grá for farming and then you'll end up becoming one of us!

lmk123

You can do it online, you’d need to come home a few times to do exams but nothing major, just be sure you definitely don’t want to ever do any farming before it’s planted

Jb1989

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121635610#Comment_121635610

How much is the part time course? . Some direction of 2000 is it. Nice wee chunk of money to spend.

n1st

Definitely find out from an accountant what the benefits of green cert is in terms of finances.

In terms of farming, green cert is not necessary, Teagasc brainwashing .

international xl

Forestry land green cert or no green cert you pay stamp duty on the forestry

893bet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121638811#Comment_121638811

I think you can get Agri relief on it with the greencert as you are farming it as crop etc.

Base price

@isabel.hazel There is some info here that you may find informative.

https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/forestry/advice/timber-harvesting/forestry-and-taxation/