BIM55600 | Farming: herd basis: time limit for making election

S124(2)(3) Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005, S122(2)(3) Corporation Tax Act 2009

The time limit for making the election is:

• in the case of a sole trader, the first anniversary after the normal self-assessment filing date for the tax year which contains the end of the first period of account in which the trader keeps a production herd of the specified class. If that tax year is the first tax year in which the sole trader has carried on the trade then the time limit is the second anniversary of the normal self-assessment filing date for that tax year;

• in the case of a partnership, twelve months after the normal self-assessment filing date for the tax year which contains the end of the first period of account during which the partnership kept a production herd of the specified class;

• in the case of a company, two years from the end of the first accounting period during which the company kept a production herd of the specified class.

In each case, the election takes effect from when the person first starting keeping a production herd of the specified class.

The legislation, although expressed in terms of farmers, applies to any person who keeps a production herd for the purposes of a trade even though that trade may not be farming, see BIM55565.