Conservation Easement Deduction Denied for Retained Gravel Use

The court held that the easement grantor retained a 'qualified mineral interest' pursuant to 170(h)(6) because sand and gravel were 'subsurface minerals.' The easement was not 'exclusively for conservation purposes,' under 170(h)(5)(A), (B) and the grantor's charitable deduction was denied in full.

Recent advice from the IRS Office of Chief Counsel reiterates the IRS’s position on perpetual conservation easements on land where the landowner retains the rights to extract minerals using surface mining methods.

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.

Plaintiffs entered into mitigation banking instrument and conservation easement with federal and Louisiana agencies that entailed planting 53,000 seedlings and replanting all dead seedlings. Vegetation on the property was later damaged/killed by abutting landowner's unlawful herbicide application.

This article examines whether governmental actions to reverse previously enacted conservation protections through condemnation or conversion should be prohibited or limited.

This document aims to provide a comprehensive list of local, state and federal legislative proposals that have been or are expected to be introduced that aim to restrict important conservation tools like easements.