Land Donor’s $17 Million Claim Adds to Expansive Deduction Fight

A land partnership that claimed a $17.5 million tax deduction for donating a conservation easement over property in the Mississippi Gulf Coast sued the IRS to revive that disallowed claim.

Sycamore Sands LLC told the US Tax Court that it executed an easement donation of approximately 181 acres of land in Pearl River County, Miss., entitling the partnership to a noncash charitable contribution deduction for the easement’s fair market value in tax year 2020. The IRS rejected that claim, determined the partnership had underpaid its taxes by an imputed $6.6 million, and asserted more than $2.6 million in penalties, the ...