[bluewatersailor06]

Hi

I am new to the site and to crofting...so my apologises in advance for these newbie questions!
I have recently got the tenancy of a croft and am relocating to start crofting this and my fathers croft across the valley.

The last tenant had an informal arrangement with a local farmer and until I am in residence this has continued. He also has the same arrangement with my father.

I know that neither my farthers or my CPHs are being used but want to arrange to buy some sheep (hopefully from the same farmer) by mid March 14 since I understand that 2014 is important for CAP reform and getting an entitlement in 2015.

Please can anyone tell me with all or some of the following (sorry for the number of questions in advance!):-
1. If I purchase sheep from the farmer can these sheep (tagged with his CPH) continue to run with his sheep (as part of the same flock) or do they have to be run as separate flocks if I owe some? (this is because I may not be ready to run them separately since I am  relocating and building a new house on the croft)
2. If he is moving sheep to other crofts, both my fathers, mine and others, should he / I when i run livestock across 2 croft complete movement forms or can I just use 1 CPH to cover both mine and my parents crofts?
3. Is there any advantage in running the 2 crofts separately (for IACS and business reasons etc) or should I count them as 1? My farther intends to assign his croft to me as soon as I start crofting.
4. How do crofters account for their businesses - as sole traders or does anyone bother with LTD status?

All help gratefully received!

Big Thanks from the wet north west!
 

[Hamish Crofter]

Hi and welcome. I new to crofting too so can't answer many of your questions. On the subject of grants I think the larger the croft the more chance you stand of getting grants and justifying larger grants so combining the crofts may help. It has with my CCAGS applications.
I have registered my croft in my name as a limited company. My accountant advised me to do so but I'm fortunate to have another source of income earned outside the uk so this contributed to that reason. However it is beneficial for tax purposes to be limited.
I found it useful to just google the question " the difference between sole trader and limited company " there is lots of good examples on there to help understand the differences. It only costs £250 to register as ltd and you can offset this fee against your tax liability.

[bluewatersailor06]

Thanks Hamish

I will look into the benefits of both larger croft from CCAGS perspective and sole trader vs ltd.
Hoping someone will be able to help regarding other questions but mostly if a flock of sheep can be part or co-owned and thus reported separately from an IASC perspective.

Cheers

[Alistair]

I'm a ltd co, not a croft, but I registered for much less than £250, you can do it online at companies house, £15 from memory?, good accountant us worth his /her weight in gold.

[bluewatersailor06]

Thanks for your reply Alistair. I have now spoken to an accountant and understand which route is best for me.

I am still hoping someone might know the answers to the other issues in my initial post.....

 

[Garmoran]

Please can anyone tell me with all or some of the following (sorry for the number of questions in advance!):-
1. If I purchase sheep from the farmer can these sheep (tagged with his CPH flock number) continue to run with his sheep (as part of the same flock) or do they have to be run as separate flocks if I own some?

2. If he is moving sheep to other crofts, both my fathers, mine and others, should he / I when i run livestock across 2 croft complete movement forms or can I just use 1 CPH to cover both mine and my parents crofts?

3. Is there any advantage in running the 2 crofts separately (for IACS and business reasons etc) or should I count them as 1? My farther intends to assign his croft to me as soon as I start crofting.

4. How do crofters account for their businesses - as sole traders or does anyone bother with LTD status?

1. Your beasts can continue to run with the farmer's animals or anyone else's, so long as they can be identified (by tags) and their movements tracked. They will be separate flocks on paper, but they don't need to be physically separate. Disadvantage is that everyone's animals will be affected by any standstills caused by beasts from elsewhere being moved onto the holding. The flock number on the tags indicates the holding on which the animals were born: you will only use your own flock number (if you have one) on animals you breed yourself or on replacement (red) tags.
Worth checking that the farmer is not including the two holdings in his IACS form, as you cannot both claim for the same land.

2. Are you asking about the implications of moving animals between fields on your croft and fields on your father's croft? If so, to do the job according to the regs you should complete movement forms. Even if your father assigns his croft to you, in the eyes of SCRPID and the Crofters Commission you have two holdings and I suspect it's quite complicated to get them combined to the satisfaction of the CC. SCRPID might be easier, though, and since the Movement Document is their 'thing' I would phone them up and see what they suggest.
Regulations for moving sheep between holdings at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/301548/0094055.pdf

3. Simpler to manage them as 1. For IACS purposes I think you will fill in one form, entering land for two CPH. You will probably be able to get away with having one Flock Number, so if your father already has one then that should do for the two holdings.

4. I croft as a sole trader. Since I never make a profit, it enables me to reclaim a bit of income tax from my PAYE deductions when I do my declaration: comes in useful for paying the last of the winter feed bills 

[bluewatersailor06]

Sorry for the delay responding - I just wanted to say a huge thank you to Garmoran for the full answer to all my questions.
I can now move forward!