Chancellor George Osborne’s budget announcement allowing farmers to average incomes for tax purposes over five years has been welcomed by the National Farmers Union (NFU) as a move which will make it easier for producers to get through the bad times as well as the good.
“We are very pleased that Mr Osborne said that he had listened to the arguments by the NFU and will allow farmers to average their incomes over five years,” said union president Meurig Raymond.
“As he mentioned in his speech, farmers are increasingly facing a volatile marketplace and this will enable them to manage the impacts of this.”
NFU Scotland president, Allan Bowie, also welcomed the move, describing the tax averaging decision as an important step for farmers.
“In addition,” added Mr Bowie, “simplifying and streamlining the system for annual tax returns is an innovative move which will be of value in reducing the amount of paperwork many farmers running small businesses endure year-on-year.”
