Finance Act, 1980

Amendment of provisions relating to the occupation of farm land by individuals and the deeming of farm land to be so occupied.

29.—As respects the year 1980-81 and subsequent years of assessment, section 17 of the Finance Act, 1974 , is hereby amended—

(a) by the addition to subsection (1) of the following proviso:

“Provided that farm land shall not be deemed to be occupied by an individual by reason of the fact that it is farm land of which his wife is the beneficial owner, if the individual does not have the use of that farm land and his wife—

(i) has the use of that farm land, or

(ii) is chargeable to tax under Case V of Schedule D on payments received in respect of the occupation of that farm land and those payments are not less than the payments which, having regard to values prevailing at the time, are not less than the payments which could have been obtained in respect of that land on the basis that negotiations for the payments had been at arm's length.”

(b) by the addition thereto of the following subsection:

“(8) In determining for the purposes of section 15 (3) and of section 30 (1) of the Finance Act, 1980 whether the rateable valuation of all farm land occupied by an individual did not at any time during a year of assessment amount to or exceed a particular amount in a case where farm land is beneficially owned by an individual jointly with any other person or persons, the individual shall, in relation to the farm land so owned, be deemed, notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this section, to occupy farm land the rateable valuation of which is an amount equal to the total rateable valuation of the farm land so owned.”.