Original Your Tax Matters Partner material by Peter J. Reilly
The IRS and Department of Justice have been waging a dramatic struggle against abusive conservation easement deductions. I have been covering easement deduction developments – the good, the bad and the ugly – for over ten years. This is a roundup of my coverage that will be periodically updated.
February 25, 2024 – Judge Lauber Provides Anatomy Of A Tax Dodge In Easement Decision
January 29, 2024 – Stiff Sentences In Conservation Easement Criminal Case – Reactions
December 2, 2023 – Zaxby’s Cofounder Sues US For $43 Million Over Conservation Tax Deductions Of $166 Million
November 13, 2023 – Tax Court Exposes Financial Engineering Of Conservation Easements
November 1, 2023 – Financial Engineering – Syndicated Conservation Easements
October 23, 2023 – Wall Street Journal Supports Abusive Conservation Tax Shelters
October 20, 2023 – Juror In Criminal Tax Case Sympathizing With The Rich, White And Entitled
January 4, 2023 – IRS Versus Dubious Conservation Easements In 2022 – Mixed Results
December 23, 2022 – Should You Invest In A Syndicated Conservation Easement ?
December 2, 2022 – Conservation Easement Syndicates Outlawyering IRS
July 24, 2022 – Conservation Easement Abuse – Not Just The Syndicators
April 2, 2022 – Circuits Split On Conservation Easement Perpetuity Regulation – Valuation Remains Critical
March 15, 2022 – Federal Prosecutors Coming Down Hard On Abusive Conservation Easement Promoters
January 13, 2022 – Eleventh Circuit Deals IRS Defeat In Conservation Easement Struggle
September 17, 2021 – Trying To Get IRS To Shut Up About Conservation Easement Litigation
September 11, 2021 – IRS Hangs Tough On Conservation Easements
July 7, 2021 – TOT Property Holdings Highlights Fundamental Flaw In Conservation Syndications
June 29, 2021 – CPAs Should Steer Clear Of Syndicated Conservation Easements
April 29, 2021 – Fourth Class Action Suit Against Syndicated Conservation Easement Promoters
April 18, 2021 – Conservation Appraisers Strike Back At IRS With Class Action Suit
April 15, 2021 – Injunction Against Syndicated Conservation Easement Consultant
January 19, 2021 – New Class Action Suit Against Conservation Easement Promoters
January 1, 2021 – Accountants Plead Guilty On $1.2 Billion In Bad Charitable Deductions
December 28, 2020 – Roots Of The 250% Solution To Charitable Easement Tax Abuse
December 27, 2020 – Oakbrook Land Holdings A Major 2020 Tax Court Decision
November 25, 2020 – IRS Threatens 75% Fraud Penalty For Investors In Syndicated Conservation Easements
November 19, 2020 – A Syndicated Conservation Easement Deal With Substance
November 3, 2020 – Senate Investigation Of Easement Syndications Worth Celebrating
October 22, 2020 – Trump Seven Springs Easement Deduction May Be Reasonable
October 17, 2020 – Proposed Bill Will Not End Conservation Easement Tax Abuse
October 7, 2020 – The Irresistible Allure Of Abusive Conservation Tax Deductions
September 13, 2020 – Syndication Of Conservation Tax Deductions – Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
September 11, 2020 – First Surrender In IRS War On Abusive Conservation Deductions
August 15, 2020 – Conservation Easements -Is IRS Burning The Forest To Save It?
August 10, 2020 – When In Rome – Conservation Easement Scandal Enters Congressional Race
July 26, 2020 – Marching Through Georgia – Class Action Lawsuits Against Conservation Syndicators
July 11, 2020 – IRS Victory In Easement Case Prompts An Offer To Not Be Refused
June 2, 2020 – 11th Circuit Blesses Conservation Merit Of Golf Course
May 20, 2020 – Syndicated Conservation Easements- An Industry Based On Nonsense
March 11, 2020 – Conservation Easement Reform – 250% Is Too Much
February 21, 2020 – War On Easement Deductions- $30 Million Denied In Three Cases
February 17, 2020 – Wrapping The Green Flag Around Tax Shenanigans
February 7, 2020 – Valuation Abuse In Conservation Easements – Rare Or Pervasive?
January 12, 2020 – IRS Grinch Ruining Christmas For Syndicated Conservation Easements
December 15, 2019 – Tax Planning For The High Salary Pauper
November 28, 2019 – Major Crackdown On Conservation Easements Or IRS Bluff?
November 24, 2019 – Syndicated Conservation Easements – Mining Concepts For Tax Dollars
October 13, 2019 – GAO Reports On Charity Tax Abuse
March 28, 2019 – Grassley Wyden Take On Sketchy Conservation Tax Shelters
February 4, 2019 – EcoVest Wraps The Green Flag Around Tax Shelter
January 23, 2019 – Conservation Syndicator EcoVest Responds To Injunction Threat
January 21, 2019 – What Should Investors In Conservation Syndications Do When DOJ Seeks Injunction?
December 20, 2018 – Crackdown On Conservation Easement Syndications
September 18, 2018 – Tax Court Rules Not Enough Conservation On Golf Course To Justify $10 Million Deduction
October 18, 2017 – Playboy Building In Tax Court – Facade easement case
July 24, 2017 – New IRS Scandal – Syndication Of Conservation Easement Deductions
July 10, 2017 – Failure To Get Bank Subordination Fatal To Easement Charitable Deduction
July 3, 2017 – Congress To IRS – Hands Off The President’s Favorite Charitable Tax Dodge
June 24, 2017 – Brookings Institution Takes On Biggest Charitable Tax Break Used By President Trump
December 29, 2016 – IRS Cracking Down On Easement Donation Syndications
December 24, 2016 – Tax Court Sustains IRS Strict Interpretation Of Charitable Acknowledgement Rules
May 1, 2016 – $16 Million Golf Course Conservation Deduction Disallowed On Fine Points
April 28, 2016 – Claiming A Conservation Easement Deduction? Use A Tax Attorney
February 14, 2016 – Easement Deductions – A Place In Greenwich Village And A $25 Million Eagles Nest
January 14, 2016 – Conservation Easement Tax Deductions And Valuation Abuse
January 9, 2016 – Poor Return Preparation Kills Facade Easement Tax Deduction
December 17, 2015 – Venus Flytraps And Elusive Gator On Golf Course Not Worth Millions In Tax Deductions
June 20, 2015 – In Defense Of Conservation Easement Charitable Deductions
June 1, 2015 – Conservation Easements – Tax Court Lets Owner Sell Them Or Give Them But Not Both
March 25, 2015 – Did Andie MacDowell’s Mountain Hideaway Require Tax Incentives?
August 5, 2014 – Easement Valuations Not So Easy Anymore
July 16, 2014 – Facade Easement Deduction Allowed
June 25, 2014 – Facade Easement Valuation Cannot Be Percentage Rule Of Thumb
May 8, 2014 – Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Owner Scores Touchdown In Tax Court – Valuation
July 15, 2013 – Side Agreement Voids Easement Charitable Deduction
June 5, 2013 – Conservation Easement No Deduction For Hypothetical Vineyard
July 30, 2012 – First Circuit In Easement Donation Case – Don’t Confuse The South End With South Boston
May 7, 2012 – Donating TriBeCa Facade Easement Is Like Renouncing Your Super Powers
February 16, 2012 – Fantasy Gravel Mining And Other Fun From The Tax Court – Esgar Corporation
January 18, 2012 – Is Tax Court Decision End of Colorado Conservation Range War?
December 12, 2011 – Of Thongs and Sheet Music – 10 Lamest Taxpayer Arguments of 2011 – Tax Court Boltar LLC – Valuation case where hypothetical development did not fit on the land.
July 5, 2011 – Facade Easement Deduction Allowed
July 5, 2011 – Facade Easement Deduction Not Allowed- Not Real Property Interest And Not Perpetual
February 21, 2011 – OK 2010 This is Really Goodbye – Brief discussion of conservation easement case that turned on valuation – Trout Ranch LLC.
May 26, 2011 – How to Screw Up an Easement Deduction
May 18, 2011 –Conservation Easements A New Field For Villainy – An oddly prescient piece arising out of PLR 201110020 which revoked the exempt status of a sketchy land trust.
November 12, 2010 – Time To Purge The Draft Posts – Brief treatment of Tax Court decision in case of Gordon Kaufman, a facade easement case.
Who does the hiring for the IRS? this is a disgrace:
The IRS dropped the ball in a golf course conservation easement valuation case by relying on a valuation prepared by an appraiser with no easement experience, according to tax professionals.
Tax Court Judge Cary Douglas Pugh’s October 17 conclusion in Champions Retreat Golf Founders LLC v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2022-106, that an easement that a taxpayer donated over a golf course had a fair market value of $7.8 million — and not $20,000, as the IRS claimed — came down to the agency’s reliance on the flawed valuation and inability to counter the taxpayer’s own valuation, appraisers and attorneys told Tax Notes.
“The IRS failed to mount a compelling case, first by retaining a golf course and hospitality appraiser not competent to value the property — after all, the property at issue was a conservation easement — and second by failing to adequately support its conclusions,” said Mark Weston, a valuation adviser not involved in the case.