RENEWED FEDERAL TAX BENEFITS PROVIDES STRONG INCENTIVES
FOR TENNESSEE LANDOWNERS TO CONSERVE THEIR LAND 

 

The Land Trust for Tennessee today announced the renewal of enhanced Federal tax benefits for landowners who choose to conserve their land through voluntary conservation easements.

The enhanced tax benefits were part of the Federal Farm Bill (Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008), which was enacted after Congress overrode a presidential veto of the legislation. The landowner tax benefits will be available to landowners through 2009.

This is great news for farmers and landowners who choose to save their land for generations to come,” said Jean C. Nelson, president and executive director of The Land Trust for Tennessee.

Nelson said the incentives will be available to landowners who conserve their property through a voluntary conservation agreement, also called a conservation easement.

The incentive, 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 percent of their income in any year to 50 percent;
• Allow working farmers to deduct up to 100 percent of their income; and
• the number of years over which a donor can take deductions from 6 to 16 years.

"While we are grateful to Congress for recognizing the importance of these enhanced benefits today, The Land Trust and organizations like ours across the country will continue to talk to our Federal elected officials about making these incentives permanent before they expire in 2009,” Nelson said.

The voluntary conservation agreement is a contract between a landowner and a land trust, government agency, or another qualified organization in which the landowner places permanent restrictions on the future uses of some or all of their property to protect scenic, wildlife, agricultural, or historic resources.

Conservation agreements are specifically tailored to meet important conservation purposes and the individual needs of the landowner. The easement is donated by the owner to the land trust, which then has the authority and obligation to enforce the terms of the easement "in perpetuity." The landowner still owns the property and can use it, sell it, or leave it to heirs, but the restrictions of the easement stay with the land forever.

"This is a great opportunity for The Land Trust to continue our efforts to work with individuals and families who are interested in conserving their land rather than allow it to be developed,” Nelson said. “These incentives are especially important for those family farmers with less income who want to continue their agricultural legacy on their land.”

These enhanced tax incentives had been in place since mid-2006, but expired on Jan. 1, 2008. As part of the Farm Bill, the incentives will be retroactive to the first of the year for any landowner who signed a conservation agreement this year, Nelson said.

Nelson applauded the efforts of both Tennessee U.S. Senators and a majority of the state’s U.S. Representatives who voted for the Farm Bill and the veto override.

"Our representatives in Washington recognized how important these tax benefits are to Tennesseans who are not only choosing to save their land but are also protecting our natural resources and wildlife habitat,” Nelson said.

Nelson could not predict how many more landowners would sign conservation agreements this year with the renewed tax benefits.

“We know, in some cases, that certain landowners chose to conserve their land at a specific time because the enhanced tax incentives were in place. Definitely, those incentives helped us reach beyond 30,000 acres of conserved land in Tennessee, but it’s impossible to predict how the renewal of the incentives will affect the number of closings we complete this year,” Nelson said.

Nelson added that The Land Trust staff never sets out to break records from one year to the next.

“Our goal is to close on parcels of land that might be the next sprawling development target or is the first in a series of adjoining properties in an area that we identify as crucial to conserving the quality of life in that particular region of Tennessee,” Nelson said. “We look forward to continuing to work with generous families and individuals who are ready to conserve their land and define Tennessee’s natural heritage in the future.”