ELR Citation: ELR 20103
No(s). 126 T.C. 16 (T.C. May 16, 2006)

The court rejects a real estate investor's claim for a charitable tax deduction stemming from a conservation easement he created on land sold to a developer. The investor claims that the easement permanently reduced the number of homes that could be built on the land from 62 to 30. But half of the land is in a floodplain, and the rest is already restricted to 30 residential lots by historic district zoning. The land donation, therefore, does not protect open space or an historically important land area. And because the sought-after tax deduction was based on assumptions known to be false or erroneous, the court assesses a $56,000 penalty against the investor.