Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 53

Cattle and milk dealers

Section 53 deals with the taxation of cattle and milk dealers who occupy farm land that is insufficient for the keep of their cattle.

• A cattle dealer or milk dealer who occupies farm land to graze livestock is treated as carrying on a trade where the land is insufficient for the keep of cattle brought onto it.
• The profits from this activity are charged to tax under Case I of Schedule D as trading profits, not as farming profits.
• "Farm land" means land in the State wholly or mainly occupied for farming purposes, but excludes market garden land as defined by section 654.
• This provision historically prevented cattle and milk dealers from avoiding tax by claiming to be farmers during the period when farming profits were largely exempt from income tax.