Balancing IRS Audit Risk When Permitting Commercial Forestry on Tax Deductible Conservation Easements

Two U.S. Court decisions raised questions regarding the permitted extent, use, size and location of building rights in deductible conservation easements, including bargain sales. The Alliance has taken steps to address this for its members, but land trusts should evaluate easement templates.

We prepared this summary of the basic results of conservation tax cases to aid land trusts, but not to give tax, legal or other advice. To aid digestion, we distilled the cases to only their essential points and removed all nuance. Obtain legal counsel to apply these general observations to specific cases.

Ongoing communication between an easement holder and a landowner is critical to ensure that activities on and uses of the land are consistent with an easement's conservation purposes. To effectuate this goal, conservation easements often include clauses governing activities or uses permitted only when the landowner requests the express prior approval of the easement holder. This Practical Pointer contains elements to consider in drafting approval standards.

Provides guidance on which commercial activities and events the Maryland Environmental Trust will consider on its properties.

Join conservation attorneys Jeff LeJava of Open Space Institute and Phil Oswald of Rupp Baase Pfalzgraf Cunningham LLC as they discuss the legal and stewardship issues related to tree cutting and timber theft.

This handbook is essential for all who work with easements. This volume includes information on IRS criteria for tax-deductible gifts, negotiation and acquisition, baseline data, monitoring and enforcement, back-up grantees, and model conservation and historic easements.

This pointer offers land trusts tips for evaluating siting renewables and transmission infrastructure on land that they own.

This article analyzes the holding in the Great Northern Nekoosa Corporation and Subsidiaries v. United States concerning surface mineral rights and the federal tax deduction.

For more than three decades, many land trusts have used certain proceeds allocation language in conservation easement deeds. This allocation excludes the value of permitted improvements the landowner makes after the donation. In the last few years, the Internal Revenue Service began disallowing easements with long-used language in the proceeds clause—and courts have backed the IRS.

Please evaluate your easement template and review all relevant clauses with counsel in light of these newly developing tax controversies.

Sample criteria from the accredited Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust for creating baseline reports for all conservation easements held by CCALT.