The Rural Bulletin: 4 January 2018
A summary of the latest news and issues affecting rural landowners and businesses brought to you by Knight Frank.
2 minutes to read
NFU calls for BPS bridging payments
The NFU has called on the Rural Payments Agency to pay out bridging payments to over 8,000 claimants in England who are still awaiting their Basic Payment Scheme monies.
While the RPA is expected to announce it met its target of paying 90% of farmers by the end of December, 10% will still be left waiting.
NFU Vice President Guy Smith said: “We have not forgotten that thousands of farmers are still waiting, and this causes real problems with cash flow when running a farm business. Accordingly, we are calling for bridging payments as soon as possible for those unpaid.”
Petition against HS2 to be launched
Landowners affected by the HS2 high speed rail link between the West Midlands and Crewe will be able to formally petition against the planned proposals – with petitioning expected to open at the end of January.
The petition is open to anyone who will be directly affected by the HS2 Phase 2a Bill and anyone wishing to do so will need to submit a document outlining two key things: How the bill will affect them and proposals of how the Bill could be altered to remedy any issues.
Petition documents can be submitted online – for more information or guidance, http://www.knightfrank.co.uk/rural-property/compulsory-purchase-and-compensation or email Tim Broomhead at tim.broomhead@knightfrank.com
Subsidies to stay until 2024
Farm support payments will remain until 2024, Defra secretary Michael Gove announced this week.
Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference, he said: “We formally will leave the EU in 2019 but we will agree a transitional period. Farmers need the time and tools to become more adaptable – guaranteed income will give farmers time to prepare businesses.”
Mr Gove said that certainty was needed at the moment and confirmed the 2019 BPS payments would be paid based on the existing scheme. After this a transitional period will begin – reducing the largest payments in England – by either introducing a cap or a sliding scale.
More information is expected to be announced in the spring.
New digital VAT system for farm businesses
Farmers will be legally required to keep digital tax records and submit VAT returns direct from financial software from April 2019.
Although the government was forced to delay proposals for a digital tax system last year, until at least 2020 to give businesses adequate time to prepare for change, HMRC has set the plans in motion again. The new Making VAT Digital (MVD) scheme is set to come into effect from 1 April 2019 for any business operating above the VAT threshold of £85,000.