Conservation Tax Incentive
Renewed in Farm Bill
On
May 23, 2008 Congress passed the Farm Bill which included the extension of
significant tax incentives for farmers and ranchers protecting their lands in
perpetuity with a conservation easement. The conservation tax incentives are
retroactive to January 1,2008 and will expire December 31, 2009.The California
Rangeland Trust worked with the California Cattlemen’s Association, the California
Rangeland Conservation Coalition, the Land Trust Alliance and with hundreds of local,
state and federal groups to extend the tax incentives.
Hear immediate-past Chairman of the Board, Darrell Wood, talk about the benefits of these conservation tax incentives : Click here
For more information regarding this newly passed legislation
please visit the Land Trust Alliance website www.lta.org or click for their updated conservation tax incentives brochure.
Conservation Tax Incentives
n
- Donations
are tax deductible
- Property
taxes should be the same as under the Williamson Act – taxed at the
agricultural production value, instead of full market value
- Estate
taxes (up to 45%) will be reduced to the value of the land with an
easement (the residual value)
- 1031
Exchange advantages in a funded easement
- Current
Farm Bill- significant tax incentives renewed: which applies to a
landowner’s federal income tax, will:
- Raise
the deduction a donor can take for donating a voluntary conservation agreement
from 30% of their income in any year to 50%;
- Allow
farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100% of their income; and
- Increase
the number of years over which a donor can take deductions from 6 to 16
years.
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