IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig asked Congress to help curb syndicated conservation easements, tax-advantaged transactions which the agency has considered for years to be abusive.
The transactions involve a group of investors who buy interests in land, donate the development rights, then receive charitable deductions intended to incentivize land conservation. The agency has said the promoted transactions often rely on appraisals that significantly inflate the value of the property—resulting in deductions worth several times more than the amount investors put into the deal.
- “Notwithstanding our efforts, we have not had an impact on essentially slowing the volume of these transactions ...