Course outline:
Our one day virtual Farming conference has been specifically designed for partners and managers with responsibility for a number of farming clients.
It is a specialist conference looking at a wide range of practical issues which will enable those attending to provide the best possible advice to their clients.
Programme correct at the time of publication. Mercia Group reserve the right to change the programme and speakers as a result of circumstances beyond our control.
CPD Hours: 6
Full conference agenda
09:30am - Welcome and Introduction
Welcome and Introduction to the conference
9:35am - It’s all about IHT, mainly…
Pat Nown, Mercia Group
This session will tackle the elephant in the room.
From 6 April 2026, agricultural and business property will continue to benefit from the 100% Inheritance Tax (IHT) relief but only up to a limit of £1 million. This significant change impacts the IHT liability on death and therefore will change strategies used to mitigate IHT during lifetime.
This session will initially focus on technical aspects of the changes for individuals (and trusts) but will then consider key practical issues and pitfalls arising from increased lifetime planning activity including the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) peril.
Content will include worked examples/scenarios.
To include:
- Business Property Relief (BPR) and Agricultural Property Relief (APR) essentials – some reminders
- The impact of the changes on lifetime planning including CGT matters
- Ensuring BPR and APR are secured – the risk areas
- Further new developments and announcements.
10:20am - Refreshment Break
Refreshment Break.
10.30am - It’s all about IHT, mainly… continued
Pat Nown, Mercia Group
11:15am - Refreshment Break
Refreshment Break.
11:30am - A Livestock Farmer’s Perspective
A Livestock Farmer’s Perspective.
12:00pm - Lunch Break
Lunch Break.
13:00pm - Farming and Land Use without the Public Purse
Jeremy Moody, CAAV
This session will cover:
- The Agricultural Transition has accelerated
- Government has collapsed payments and stopped SFI
- It is looking at future land use
- What are its policies for agriculture and the environment?
- Future changes in farming and land use
2:00pm - Refreshment Break
Refreshment Break.
2.15pm - Prospects for UK Agriculture
Richard King, The Andersons Centre
This session will cover:
- A presentation giving an overview of the current situation of UK farming, policy and profitability outlook, and overview of the key sectors.
3:00pm - Refreshment Break
Refreshment Break.
3.15pm - The cash basis - is it worth looking at?
David Missen, Larking Gowen LLP
David will look at the general area of succession planning, focusing on what opportunities remain post Autumn Budget 2024 and how the whole thrust of succession planning has changed. He will also revisit the impact of the switch to the cash basis for Income Tax which remains a highly relevant topic for farming businesses and one which seems to have attracted remarkably little attention from practitioners. In both areas he will include a number of case studies.
4.30pm - Close of Conference
CPD Hours: 6
Conference speakers
Pat Nown
Pat is a tax consultant lecturer at Mercia Group. Pat originally trained and worked in the profession for Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton and KPMG before moving to the University of Derby as their senior tax lecturer. Her time at Derby included undergraduate and professional tax training as well as being involved in examinations and publishing projects for ACCA and other professional bodies.
This led to a ten-year period with the Financial Training Company (now Kaplan) where she was Tax Product Director for the Midlands as well as becoming well known as a prominent exam-based tax lecturer. Over her career Pat has been actively involved in the tax professional bodies including serving as a Council member for 12 years for the Association of Taxation Technicians.
Jeremy Moody
Jeremy is Secretary and Adviser to the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers and an independent adviser.
Richard King
Richard is a Partner and Head of Business Research at the Andersons Centre. He is a qualified Chartered Surveyor and Agricultural Valuer.
David Missen
Having previously been a Partner within a regional firm of chartered accountants, David is now an independent consultant. He is an agriculture subject matter expert for the ICAEW farming community and also writes assignments and lectures for firms within the sector. He has his own small farm which he has expanded with a mixture of arable, solar and stewardship areas.
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