Deadline for exemption from residential zoned land tax is May 23
Farmers who have submitted de-zoned land must make a return on or before May 23 to be exempt from RZLT.
Farmers who have submitted to de-zone their land must make a return to Revenue on or before May 23 to be exempt from residential zoned land tax (RZLT).
Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) farm business chair Bill O’Keeffe is reminding farmers who want to be exempt from RZLT and who have submitted to their local authority or county council to de-zone their lands in the February to March 2026 timeframe that they must make a return to Revenue on or before this Saturday, May 23.
There is an obligation on all landowners with land zoned residential to make a return to Revenue by this date. Anyone can do this by submitting an RZLT return on the RZLT portal through the Revenue online resources, myAccount or Revenue Online Service (ROS).
The IFA is advising farmers who are not familiar with these online portals should contact and engage with a professional accountancy service to make the return on their behalf.
All submissions to local authorities in the February-March window that sought a re-zoning based on current economic activity on the land should have received an acknowledgement of this submission by April 30.
This acknowledgement must be included as part of the RZLT return to Revenue where a farmer is seeking an exemption from the 3% RZLT tax in 2025.
Mr O’Keeffe said: “IFA will continue to lobby the Government for a permanent exemption for actively farmed land. A one-year exemption is not the solution. Actively-farmed land should be removed from the scope of RZLT, and that is what IFA will continue to campaign for.”
“It is important that affected farmers are aware that they must act before the deadline of this Saturday if they have not already done so, and make a return to Revenue to secure the exemption for 2026.”
