Conservation Easements: The Importance of Proper Planning and Compliance

The United States Tax Court recently decided yet another case[1] involving conservation easements and the corresponding charitable contribution deduction. Such cases have been prevalent lately, although recent cases have dealt more with syndicated conservation easements and the IRS’s failure to follow certain procedural rules.[2] In the subject case of this article, however, the Court, for…
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Goodbye Notice 2017-10

In a recent full Tax Court opinion[1], the Tax Court set aside Notice 2017-10, holding IRC § 6662A penalties are not to be imposed upon the taxpayer.[2] The Court’s reasoning was that the IRS failed to properly follow the notice-and-comment procedure, required under the Administrative Procedure Act. On December 23, 2016, the IRS issued Notice…
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Deny It Like It’s TOT – Conservation Easement Denial Upheld

It is no secret. Everyone likes reading and writing about syndicated conservation easements. In December 2019, the Tax Court ruled in the case of TOT Property Holdings LLC v. Comm’r.[1] The result was an unfavorable one for the taxpayer. The transaction in question was more-or-less a run of the mill syndicated conservation easement, albeit ending…
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Recent Conservation Easement Attacks by the IRS

Conservation has been in the tax news yet again recently. Really, ever since Notice 2017-10, conservation easements, especially those of the syndicated variety, have been caught in the cross hairs of the IRS as well as the Department of Justice while also drawing the ire of a few of those in power in Congress. Most…
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