NEW laws around inheritance tax will force farmers to "essentially buy back their own land", a representative from Ulster Bank has said. 

According to Cormac McKervey, Ulster Bank's Head of Agriculture, the "vast majority" of farms in Northern Ireland are set to be impacted by the far-reaching changes - and many will be forced to either sell land or borrow money to pay huge tax bills.

In the Budget last month, the Chancellor announced that both APR and BPR would be capped at a combined £1million, with anything over that being taxed at 20 per cent. The change will be introduced from April, 2026.

"When we take the average price of land (£15,000 per acre) on a typical farm of 100 acres, it's very easy to get to a figure of £1million," Mr. McKervey told farmers at Monday night's public meeting. 

"Our concern is the link between value of the asset vs the payment in tax. Farm profitability is low, and might be one per cent of the farm's total value on a good year; on a bad year, it could be nil. 

"But, farmers will still have to find the money to pay huge inheritance tax. Many will have to sell land, leaving a less sustainable farm.

"Others will stop investing in their farm to try and save money. Others will borrow money; they will be borrowing money from banks to repay land they already own. 

"In any scenario, it's quite hard to take. We didn't see this coming; there was no lead-in time, we were just told, this is just how it is."

It is expected that farmers who are forced to pay inheritance tax will be able to do so over a period of ten years; on farms worth over £1million, this could result in yearly tax repayments of more than £15,000. 

The host of the event, and BBC journalist, Elaine Mitchell, asked Mr. McKervey if farmers could afford to pay this added bill, given the other pressures being faced in the industry.

"Farmers are going to have to pay tax bills of thousands to essentially buy back their own land," Mr. McKervey said. "At that level, the amount of farmers that can afford to do that are very, very few. 

"Not only are farmers forced to spend money to retain the land they already, a farm will be starved financially for the next 10 years.

"This will be a huge outlay for farmers who could use the money for something else, whether it's improving land or buildings, or other investments needed for climate transition.

"It's very hard to generate any confidence out of what's going to happen. This shouldn't be happening to begin with," he added.