Setting up a Farm as a limited company

How does that work? Rough outline.....company now owns it, what happens when you retire/dissolve the company?

If you sell and director's loan is intact, you can get some of its value back tax free?...or kids inherit company, land and associated debts at some point in future etc

What's the exit strategy

I assume not many buy in their own name and lease/rent back to company etc?

I think the strategy is that you'll have generated more wealth in the interim period so that it's not necessarily the end of the world if the tax man does get a slice

Surely you're not going to keep that rate of capital spending up for more than a few years for a handy sized beef farm?

Last year was a big year vat wise and obviously that’s not every year as there was a tractor upgrade but if you keep the tractor fairly fresh even a year like that every 6 years would put a serious dent in vat on top of smaller investments other years and vat on all the day to day stuff and there is so much vat is paid on that it adds up.

How many cattle are you selling a year? Suckling or finishing? The spending looks big.

Anyone not paying into a pension? The brother is in finance reckons everyone should have one. But it's the worst investment you'll make because on average nobody lives long enough to get the most out of a pension. I'm paying into one because I reckon there will be no state pension for me when the time comes around.

Each to there own but is no enjoyment in farming in old, uncomfortable and often unreliable tractors not for me anyway - lord knows I spent long enough in the cab (or bits of a cab) at it as a young lad when my grandfathers were running the farms. So we like to upgrade the tractor every 6 or 7 years. As for the jeep, I don’t have one at the moment but I want a crew cab pickup for various reasons both farm and non-farm related - off farm job would be paying for it though. The 12x6 - we have a smaller unsuitable and reaching end of life cattle box, it’s going to need replacement in the next few years.

Most farms have an ongoing spend on machinery and equipment, more some years less others and that is a key reason where I see it being attractive to vat register.

State won't be able to afford it.

Going to be classed as asset rich and means tested i think. Also the fact that I'm working and paying tax goes against me. I don't think the state pension is going to be a guarantee for me when I get to pension age. I think long term the PAYE middle class will be squeezed more and more. There was a pension pot used in the crash to bail out the country which we'll never see again, since then private pensions have been encouraged and I could be wrong but I think employers have to make contributions to pension funds. Or maybe they will have to know the future. Just my opinion

By.the time I was in a position to form a company my children were working so wouldnt be able to save tax that way. Before I had all my loans for land purchase and buildings paid off I was in my early fifties . When talking about pensions nobody mentions the amount of tax they will pay when their private pension is added to their state pension.

I’m in ltd company since march 24 …zero regrets and nothing but a positive move so far ….im by no means a large dairy farm (100 cows)….i had majority of my big building jobs done and capital allowances were running out …and tax bill starting to get fairly big …all I’ll say is talk to a good accountant preferably one dealing with farmers in ltd companies ….see what your own accountant thinks and get second opinion ,it’s not black and white suits some won’t others there was a plan put in place for me probably for previous 1.5 years which was crucial and not just a knee jerk decision based on one big tax bill

I hope to:

• Fix my P&K issues
• Replace feeders in a slatted shed that have been welded back too many times. Replace another leaking roof. New lights throughout.
• Concrete some of the yard
• Buy a PTO generator, was without power for 8 days and own well this year
• Max out the pension conribuition

All this should make 2026 an easier year.