While it is true that agricultural assets will often qualify for exemption and reliefs from inheritance tax, farmers and landowners cannot assume that assets can simply be passed onto the next generation tax-free.

There is often a need to diversify activities to ensure adequate income and this can have a significant effect on capital taxation; failure to take account of this can cause long-term difficulties.

Most farmers and landowners will therefore need advice on how to pass assets on to the next generation in a tax-efficient way on death, retirement or sooner. This may require nothing more than an appropriately drafted Will, but can also involve setting up more complicated structures, depending on the farmer's personal circumstances.

Working closely with our clients' other professional advisers, we can provide tailored advice to farmers and landowners on:

• Wills
• Lifetime gifts
• The use of trusts

In the specialist areas of agricultural property relief and business property reliefs we are frequently asked to provide consultancy services in conjunction with members of our agriculture department. We can advise n the use and impact of taper, rollover and holdover reliefs to reduce, postpone or eliminate Capital Gains Tax liabilities, and how to plan to shelter gains or reduce taxes on the sale of all types of asset including development land.