Conservation easements can be a used to reduce tax liability if a taxpayer owns land that is not intended for development, though the use of conservation easements has come under some scrutiny by the IRS.
What Is a Conservation Easement?
A conservation easement is a restriction on the owner's use of the property. A popular form is the open space or scenic easement, wherein the owner of land agrees to set the land aside to preserve natural, scenic, historic, scientific and recreational areas, for public enjoyment.
The deductible value of the easement is generally determined using a "before and after" approach. That is, the value of the total property owned by the taxpayer (including adjacent property that is not encumbered by the easement) before granting the easement is determined. Then, the value of the property after granting the easement is subtracted to determine the value of the easement.
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Katie Rass
Katie Rass is executive managing editor of ThinkAdvisor, where she oversees copy editing and content strategy. She joined the site as managing editor in 2012 from Dow Jones Newswires, where she covered corporate earnings and other financial news. Earlier, Katie worked at The New York Times News Service, where her work on publications including The International Weekly and The Times Digest was seen by millions of readers around the world and on the International Space Station. She did a stint on the financial desk of The International Herald Tribune, now The International New York Times, in Paris, where she edited front-page news on the euro crisis. Katie started her career at the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram as a reporter and editor while earning a bachelor's degree in journalism and Spanish at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She is an alumna of the Dow Jones News Fund editing internship program.
