Tax Court Cuts $115 Million Easement Deduction to $176,000

Feb. 19, 2026, 10:57 PM UTC

A Missouri partnership is liable for penalties after evaluating the appreciation of a conservation easement at more than 14,000% across a 21-month span, the US Tax Court said Thursday.

North Donald LA Property LLC’s $115 million charitable contribution deduction taken for a 260-acre easement in Louisiana was “grotesquely” overstated and should have instead been valued at $176,000, Judge Albert G. Lauber said in a memorandum opinion.

North Donald is on the hook for a 40% gross valuation misstatement penalty under IRC Section 662 because the valuation of the conservation easement was an “outrageous overstatement, wholly untethered from reality,” Lauber ...

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