Farmers make use of RAA subsidies for succession & estate planning advice

This blog article follows on from our previous article Get in quick! Subsidised business & estate planning advice for farmers due to run out! dated 20 November 2019.

The NSW Rural Assistance Authority’s (RAA) Farm Business Skills Professional Development Program closed on 30 June 2020. The program was intended to complement the range of programs available to help farmers prepare for and deal with drought, by building farmers’ capacity to prepare for and manage risk. This included farm business succession planning.

The RAA reports on its website that nationwide 1,687 farmers took part in the program and more than $3.7 million in subsidies were paid.

Our Tax & Estate Planning Team provided retirement, succession and estate planning advice under this program to 81 eligible farmers across 49 family groups. This represents 4.8% of the farmers who utilised the program nationwide.

We are delighted that so many of our farming clients were able to access this program implement business succession and estate plans. Having worked out a plan and considered the relevant tax and stamp duty implications, these farmers can now hand the reigns over to the next generation of promising young farmers knowing that they have made well informed decisions about how and when that will happen.

The recent drought, bushfires and pandemic have been ongoing sources of stress for all farmers, both financially and mentally. Hopefully our farming clients who utilised this program have one less thing to worry about now that they have well considered plans in place for their future.