Georgia Lawmakers Seek Better Conservation Easement Guidance

May 26, 2017

Secretary Steven Mnuchin
U.S. Department of Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20220

Secretary Mnuchin:

We write today to highlight concerns brought to us by our constituents regarding guidance that the Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released in Notice 2017-29, on April 27, 2017, which extends the deadline for participants in pass-through entities that make conservation easement donations to make their disclosure (as required in Notice 2017-10), from June 21, 2017 to October 2, 2017. Notably, it did not extend the May 2nd deadline for material advisors and 2016 year participants under Treas. Reg. 1.6011-4(e)(1).

We believe that the IRS decision in Notice 2017-29 is a step in the right direction for those who care about conserving our country's land, natural resources and wildlife habitat. We are very pleased to see the IRS responded to the many landowners, leaders of nonprofit land trusts and other conservation professionals who spoke out to explain the vital role that privately funded conservation easement donations play in advancing needed preservation efforts.

However, we believe the IRS needs to go further by suspending the underlying Notice 2017-10 all together and then working with the conservation industry and Congress to find an appropriate solution to eliminate incorrect land appraisals in conversation easement donations. IRS Notice 2017-29 does not solve the underlying problem and unfairly labels these already highly disclosed charitable contributions as "tax avoidance transactions". This undermines congressional intent by suppressing conservation by failing to distinguish between the majority of legitimate conservation easement donations and the minority of donations that may be over-valued through an incorrect or poor appraisal.

Under these circumstances, we request that you suspend Notice 2017-10 until the December 31, 2017, to allow time for the government and private stakeholders to work on solutions that address any abuse of conservation easement donations, without unnecessarily burdening taxpayers and disturbing conservation in contravention of a clear congressional mandate.

Sincerely,

Earl L. 'Buddy' Carter
Member of Congress

A. Drew Ferguson IV, DMD
Member of Congress

Doug Collings
Member of Congress

Jody Hice
Member of Congress