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Landowners sue IRS over tax assessment
(Pueblo Chieftain, The (CO) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jan. 12--WESTON -- Two property owners are suing the Internal Revenue Service because of tax adjustments made to land they donated for conservation easement several years ago.
The two properties in question were donated to the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust in 2002 and 2003, encompassing 2,880 acres of agricultural land.
The land, which is part of a larger 20,000-acre parcel known as the Alamosa Canyon Ranch, is split equally between owners Kozad Properties and Glenhills Ranch Ltd.
According to an appraisal secured by the landowners, putting their land into conservation easement diminished the value of the first piece of land by $2.8 million and the second piece by $492,000.
The IRS did its own assessment of the value of the properties and reduced the allowed charitable contribution amount to $312,500 from the $1.1 million the owners claimed on their taxes.
Both Glenhills Ranch and Kozad paid the adjusted amount and filed separate lawsuits Jan. 3, asking to have that money returned.
The lawsuit comes just months after a statewide probe into possible misuse of the state's conservation easement program.
The state's Division of Real Estate issued 30 subpoenas in late November to landowners and trusts in an effort to get information on appraisals that may have overvalued land placed into conservation easements. Higher appraisals mean landowners may take larger tax credits to offset their state taxes. State law then allows those landowners to sell off the tax credits.
Loveland appraiser Julie O'Gorman had her license suspended in June after allegedly overvaluing land in the Los Leones Ranch in Walsenburg, which was donated into conservation through the Arvada-based Noah Land Conservation, now known as the Colorado Natural Land Trust. No one from CCALT was subpoenaed in the case.
CCALT Executive Director Chris West said that while his office is not involved in the Weston lawsuit, he thinks it's a shame the IRS has cast such a wide net, entangling what he called above-board appraisers in an investigation of more than 100 appraisals over the past three years.
"It really is unfortunate," he said.
West said that with the new legislative session that began Wednesday, his office eagerly is awaiting new laws that will tighten up the conservation program and flush out shady appraisers, allowing them to get on with the business of conserving lands throughout Colorado.
"(Conservation easement) really is a good program," West said.
To see more of The Pueblo Chieftain, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.chieftain.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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