FREE PUBLIC WORKHOP ON NEW
STATE TAX CREDIT FOR LAND CONSERVATION
A free workshop for landowners, local officials and the
public is being held on Saturday, April 21 at 10:00 am at the Harwich Community
Center to describe new tax benefits available for anyone who owns land in
Massachusetts, whether they live here or pay taxes here or not.
Starting late in 2011, for the first time ever, landowners
who engage in conservation transactions with non-profit land trusts, towns or
agencies can be eligible for a powerful new tax advantage—a refundable State
income tax credit worth up to $50,000.
This should be exciting news for landowners. While there have always been income tax
deductions available for land gifts on a donor’s federal returns, there have
never been any incentives on the State tax side. Now there are both.
The workshop is being conducted by The Compact of Cape Cod
Conservation Trusts, Inc., a regional non-profit advising towns and
conservation groups on the Cape since 1986.
Land trusts in Harwich, Dennis, Brewster and Orleans are
co-sponsors. Staff of The Compact, which
has successfully coordinated the first six tax credit applications from the
Cape, will present the program and be available for private, free consultations
with landowners afterwards. Compact
staff will also have maps available to give any interested landowners a
preliminary analysis of their property’s eligibility for the state tax credit.
The Commonwealth has provided guidelines on how the program
will work. The type of transaction (land gift, conservation restriction,
bargain sale, reserved life estate) is less important than the characteristics
of the land itself, so long as the land is permanently protected. The office of Energy and Environmental
Affairs must certify that the land to be preserved is significant to protect
drinking water supplies, rare species and other wildlife habitats, agriculture
or forestry, recreational opportunities and scenic or cultural values of state
or regional importance. While those
themes are fairly broad, you can see how a gift of a vacant lot in a
subdivision might not qualify. Still,
Cape Cod is still blessed with many resource protection parcels that have been
neither yet developed nor preserved that could qualify.
The landowner must have the land pre-certified by the State
(The Compact can help do the paperwork) before the gift or bargain sale is
completed. An appraisal is needed to
justify that the land’s market value and establish the credit amount. The title to the land must be clear. The State will refund any unused credit in
the first year of the gift. That means
that not only would your State income tax be wiped out for that year, but the
State will issue you a check for the difference between that year’s tax and
$50,000 or 50 percent of the appraised value, whichever is less. For example, if you donate a parcel worth
$30,000, your tax credit would be $15,000.
If your Mass. income tax is $5,000, you would pay no state tax and get a
tax refund for the remaining $10,000.
If you donate a conservation restriction appraised at
$120,000, your tax credit would be the maximum $50,000. If your Mass. income tax is $10,000, you
would pay no state tax and get a check for the $40,000 difference. (The total of tax credit and refund check
cannot exceed $50,000.) You do not need
to reside in Massachusetts or even pay taxes here; so long as you own the land,
and the land qualifies, you qualify. The
State approved the first 22 applications in December, returning $976,000 in
credits to landowners, including six on the Cape. A full $2 million is available statewide in
2012.
Remember that this new tax credit is in addition to the
regular federal income tax incentives for charitable contributions of land or
interests therein. The Compact can be
contacted for more details or a free, confidential consultation.
(prepared
April 2012 by Mark H. Robinson, Executive Director of The Compact of Cape Cod
Conservation Trusts, Inc., and, Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Land
Trust Coalition.)
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