IHTM24161 - The District Valuer: general issues
Summary
Before you can refer property on which Agricultural Relief has been claimed to the District Valuer (DV), you need to consider the following issues:
- Is all the property ’occupied for the purposes of agriculture’, IHTA84/S117? (IHTM24060)
- What rate of relief (IHTM24140) is applicable?
- If any property would fail to qualify for AR, would it qualify for business relief (IHTM25131) instead and, if so, at what rate? (IHTM25141)
- Does all of the property qualify as ‘agricultural property’, IHTA84/S115(2)? (IHTM24030)
- If the property qualifies for AR, what is the agricultural value (IHTM24150) of the agricultural property, IHTA/S115 (3)?
It is our responsibility to consider questions about the eligibility to AR, although the DV will often be able to provide helpful information and advice, particularly in relation to the last two points above.
You should consider the deduction for agricultural relief thoroughly before you make your referral to the DV.
In handling AR issues of a more complex nature, you should seek advice first from members of your own teams, particularly those with more experience, as they may have encountered the issue before.
Please also remember that you can always get advice from Technical on handling AR issues You can have an informal chat or make a formal referral.
If, after receiving replies to your initial enquiries regarding a claim for agricultural relief, you need to ask the taxpayer for more information, you should let them know that the DV will be consulted when you are satisfied that you have enough information regarding the claim to make the appropriate referral.
If you become aware that the property is about to be sold, or improvements are about to be made post-death and before the DV has had a chance to inspect the property, it may be sensible to refer the matter to the DV even if the question of occupation for agricultural purposes has not yet been fully resolved. You will need to make this clear to the DV by means of a covering memo. The further information can then be sent when it has been obtained.
If you have a complicated claim for relief and you are unsure if you have enough information to make a referral to the DV, you can always have an informal chat with a member of Technical, or other specialist, who will advise whether or not a referral to the DV is appropriate at that stage. The DV may also be able to comment on the extent of agricultural operations being carried out on the land if there is doubt about this. For example, you may wish to ask the DV to confirm that all the farm buildings said to be occupied for the purposes of agriculture (IHTM24060) were so occupied. But, you must remember that it is your responsibility to decide whether or not IHTA84/S117 is satisfied.
Sub-threshold estates
Where the estate is sub-threshold because of the relief claimed, but may become chargeable if some or .all the relief is denied you will need to make this clear to the DV You should indicate the amount of relief that would need to be denied to make the estate tax-paying. If appropriate, you should ask the DV for informal or ‘does not exceed’ values to see if the matter is worth pursuit and always consider the potential tax at stake.
Value subject to 100% AR
If 100% AR is due remember that the value of the property will not have been ‘ascertained’ for Capital Gains Tax (IHTM09243), unless the DV has made a formal valuation that has been communicated to the taxpayer or their agent. Where appropriate you may want to write to them saying that we have not looked at the value of (describe the interest in land) in any detail and the District Valuer has not agreed or ‘ascertained’ the value of this asset for our purposes.