Conservation Tax Incentives

Updated 7/08

In 2006, President Bush signed legislation from Congress improving tax incentives for voluntary conservation donations – donations by private landowners that retire development rights to protect significant wildlife, scenic, and historic resources. This legislation expired on December 31, 2007, but was recently extended with passage of the 2008 Farm Bill.

The 2008 bill reinstates the tax benefits, retroactive to January, 2008, with a new expiration date of December, 2009. The bill provides the following tax incentives for qualified land donations:

• Allows eligible farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100% of their AGI
• Increases the number of years over which a donor can take deductions from 6 years to 16 years
• Raises the maximum deduction a donor can take for donating a conservation easement from 30% of their adjusted gross income (AGI), to 50%, provided that the contribution does not prevent the use of the land for farming or ranching

The improved conservation tax incentive will especially help family farmers and ranchers who own valuable lands but have modest incomes. Through the donation of a conservation easement to a non-profit land trust or land conservation organization, landowners can keep land in agricultural production while conserving important wildlife habitat and open space.

To learn more about how a conservation easement can provide you and your family with tax benefits while benefiting the environment, email info@alcnet.org or contact our Conservation Staff.