My local accountant does my farm return. Why change?

For a simple year they may be fine. Where a specialist pays is the farming-only reliefs, averaging, the herd basis, the subsidy transition and the inheritance-tax and succession work, which is where a general practice most often gets it wrong or leaves money on the table.

Can you act for a tenant farmer, not just a landowner?

Yes. The accounts and reliefs work the same for a tenant, and the inheritance-tax position is different but still matters, since a tenancy can itself qualify for relief. We act for owner-occupiers, tenants and contract farmers.

Do you cover the whole country?

Yes. Farm accounts run by email and software, and the tax bodies are national, so where the farm is does not change how this works. Our location pages reflect where enquiries come from, not a service area.

Accountants for Farmers

Written and reviewed by the Agricultural Accountants editorial team. Last reviewed 27 July 2026.

Most farms do fine with an accountant until the farming-specific things arrive: a volatile year that should be averaged, a herd to put on the herd basis, a subsidy switch to treat correctly, or a succession question that a general practice is not equipped for. This is the everyday work that keeps those from turning into a bigger bill.

We do the accounts and the return, and we claim the reliefs that exist only for farming, because we look for them as a matter of course.

What the Farming Service Covers

The farm accounts and the Self Assessment or company return, with two-year and five-year averaging where a swing in profit justifies it, the herd basis where you keep a production herd, and the correct treatment of delinked payments and environmental scheme income. Capital allowances on machinery and buildings, and the VAT position including the agricultural flat rate scheme. The detail behind these is in our guides to averaging and the herd basis and farm subsidies.

One holding or a mixed estate, tenanted or owner-occupied, it is worked as one business so the reliefs interact correctly.

Why a Farm Specialist

The recurring failures of a generalist on farm work are missing the herd basis election and its deadline, not averaging a volatile year, mishandling the subsidy transition, and treating a diversified enterprise the wrong way for both income tax and inheritance tax. None of these produce a warning at the time.

It is the difference the research shows farmers care about most: someone who knows a herd basis election from a hole in the ground, rather than a firm meeting a farm return once a year.

Taking Over From Your Current Accountant

We write to your existing accountant for the handover they are professionally obliged to provide, pick up from the last accounts, and check the previous returns for the farming reliefs that may have been missed. Where an averaging claim or a herd basis election could still be made, we make it.

Tell us where you are in the farming year when you enquire, because it affects what needs doing first.

Fees for the Farming Service

A fixed annual fee, quoted in writing before we start, set by the size and shape of the farm business rather than by turnover or subsidy. No hourly rate, and no charge for a question in the middle of harvest or lambing.

If your position is genuinely simple, we will say so rather than quote for it.