Easement Donor Appeals $47 Million Deduction Denial Over Zoning

The Georgia partnership behind a 1,500-acre conservation easement donation asked a federal appeals court to overturn the Tax Court’s decision to back a $43 million reduction to its available charitable contribution deduction.

The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit should revive Buckelew Farm LLC’s claimed $47.6 million deduction because the Tax Court wrongly concluded that the partnership relied on a legally impermissible land use to calculate the amount, the partnership said Monday. Buckelew Farm based the fair market value of its donated easement on its property’s purported “highest and best use” as a residential hunting resort, which the ...