Permanent Conservation Easement Donation Opportunities and Perils

The donation of a permanent conservation easement on farm or ranch land can provide a significant tax benefit to the donor.  The rules are complex and must be carefully complied with to obtain the tax benefits that are possible – farmers and ranchers can deduct up to 100 percent of their income.  For others, the limit is 50 percent of annual income.

The transaction involves a legally binding agreement that is voluntarily entered into between a landowner and qualified charity – some form of land trust or governmental agency. Under the agreement, the landowner allows a permanent restriction on the use of the donated land so as to protect conservation characteristics associated with the tract.  The governing Code provision is I.R.C. §170(h).   

The IRS has a history of not showing a great deal of appreciation for the provision.  After all, the donor is getting a significant tax deduction and can still farm or graze the property, for example.   So, the technical requirements must be paid close attention to and strictly complied with.  Two recent cases illustrate the technical nature of the of just a couple of the myriad of rules that can apply. 

In the first case, the petitioner made a charitable contribution a permanent conservation easement on two private golf courses in the Kansas City area in 2003 valued at $16.4 million. The IRS challenged the charitable contribution deduction on numerous grounds, and in an earlier action, the petitioner conceded that the donation did not satisfy the open space conservation test, granting the IRS summary judgment on that issue, with other issues remaining in dispute. At the time of the donation, two banks held senior deeds of trust on the land at issue. Subordination agreements were not recorded until approximately three months after the donation stating that they were effective at the time of the donation. In addition, the petitioner had no power or authority to enforce the easement with respect to a portion of the property due to its lack of ownership of the property. The Tax Court cited Mitchell v. Comr., 775 F.3d 1243 (10th Cir. 2015) and Minnick v. Comr., 796 F.3d 1156 (9th Cir. 2015) as precedent on the issue that the donor must obtain a subordination agreement from the lender at the time the donation is made. Here, the court held that the evidence failed to establish that the petitioner and the lenders entered into any agreements to subordinate their interests that would be binding under state (MO) law on or before the date of the transfer to the qualified charity. As a result, the donated easement was not protected into perpetuity and failed to qualify as a qualified conservation contribution. 

The case is RP Golf, LLC v. Comr., T.C. Memo. 2016-80.

In the second case, the petitioner contributed a conservation easement on a tract of land to two qualified organizations. The easement provided that if the conservation purpose was extinguished because of changed circumstances surrounding the donated property, the donees were entitled to a proportionate share of extinguishment proceeds. If extinguishment occurred, the donees were entitled to receive at least the amount allowed as a deduction to the donor for federal income tax purposes over the fair market value of the property at the time of the contribution. The plaintiff claimed a charitable contribution for the year of the contribution and carried forward the remaining balance to tax years 2006-2008. Under Treas. Reg. §1.170A(g)(6)(i), when a change in conditions extinguishes a perpetual conservation restriction, the donee, on later sale, exchange or conversion of the property, must be entitled to a portion of the proceeds at least equal to that proportionate value of the perpetual conservation restriction. Because the easement at issue provided that the value of the contribution for purposes of the donees’ right to extinguishment proceeds is the amount of the petitioner’s allowable deductions rather than the fair market value of the easement, the court determined that the easement violated the Regulation and was not protected in perpetuity under I.R.C. §170(h)(5)(A). The court also imposed an accuracy-related penalty.

The case is Carroll, et al. v. Comr., 146 T.C. No. 13 (2016).

So, the key point with the donation of conservation easements is that they are perpetual.  That means forever.  If you are giving up rights associated with the property, you can't get those rights back.  You also can't retain any right to modify boundaries or move the conservation easement to another property.  That was the outcome of another case in 2015 - Balsam Mountain Investments, LLC v. Comr., T.C. Memo. 2015-43.