Georgia Quarry’s $22 Million Conservation Easement Shot Down

A partnership’s claimed charitable contribution tax deduction on its Georgia land is actually worth about $193,000, not the $22 million that the partnership claimed based on a “preposterous” financial model, the US Tax Court determined Monday.

The court found that Beaverdam Creek Holdings LLC was also liable for a 40% penalty for gross valuation misstatement. The decision is another in a line of opinions from the court denying easement deductions amid a docket of over 1,000 such cases before it.

Judge Joseph Robert Goeke said the partnership, formed in 2017, “never attempted to hire an operator or employees, buy equipment, ...