IRS Denies Backdating Penalties in Easement Documents Lawsuit

The IRS denied having engaged in an alleged pattern of fraudulent conduct by backdating penalty approvals in conservation easement lawsuits and stonewalling a taxpayer’s requests for documents.

Rim Rock Aggregates LLC and Top Rope Holdings LLC, two partnerships that donated easements and sued the government for disallowing their tax deductions, together filed a lawsuit in February demanding the agency comply with Freedom of Information Act request for records on any possible penalty backdating. The agency’s denial Wednesday came in an “answer,” a procedural filing that a civil defendant uses to address a complaint point by point.

• Rim Rock Aggregates and ...