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    Tax incentives for land conservation offset part of the loss in property value when a landowner donates an easement, which makes conservation a viable option for many landowners. While tax incentives for voluntary private land conservation have proven to be successful, helping land trusts to protect more than 61 million acres nationwide, they have also led to major policy issues for our community.

    Income tax incentives for land conservation

    In 2015, Congress enacted one of the most powerful conservation measures in decades: the enhanced federal tax incentive for conservation easement donations. The permanent conservation easement tax incentive is an important tool that helps Americans conserve their land voluntarily.

    For land trusts across the country, the permanent incentive represents vastly increased opportunities to protect the special places in their widely varied communities.

    If you own land with important natural, agricultural or historic resources, donating a conservation easement can be a prudent way to both save the land you love forever and to realize significant federal tax savings.

    Learn more

    Tax issues

    The Alliance will continue to work passionately to improve and advance tax policies that secure resources for land trusts and accelerates the pace of voluntary private land conservation. To that end, the following reflects our policy priorities when it comes to tax issues:

    Putting an end to abusive conservation easement tax shelters

    While the vast majority of conservation easements are truly charitable endeavors, a few bad actors have been promoting conservation easement donations as a way for investors to make a fast profit by gaining access to large federal tax deductions. Thankfully, on December 23, 2022, Congress passed the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act that will end the abuse, preserve the integrity of our tax laws, and protect those who work tirelessly and ethically to conserve our country’s irreplaceable working and natural lands.

    Learn more on our blog.

    Promoting IRS reforms

    The IRS continues to focus on innocent donor documentation mistakes (often called “foot faults”) that result in disqualification of truly charitable donations. The Alliance is working to safeguard these donations by pursuing legislation that reorients the IRS from focusing on such minor mistakes. Additionally, the Alliance is actively working with Congress to exempt conservation donations from the state and local tax limitation.