Payment schedule raises tax issues

TENS of thousands of farmers won't be celebrating with their Single Farm Payment cheques next Christmas - because they will still be in the post for some weeks after Santa has returned to the North Pole.

The Department of Agriculture has confirmed that the payment of cheques under the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) to 136,459 farmers will be made from the beginning of December, 2005 and the end of January, 2006.

Department officials explained that, under EU regulations, they are not entitled to issue the payments before early December, and the heavy work load involved is expected to extend the payment into late January.