Capitol Historic Trust - Tax Court Cases

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Tax Court Cases: Overview
Hilborn v. Commissioner
Nicoladis v. Commissioner
Griffin v. Commissioner
Losch v. Commissioner
Dorsey v. Commissioner
Whitehouse v. Commissioner
Herman v. Commissioner
Simmons v. Commissioner
Schiedelman v. Commissioner
Bruzewicz v. United States (District Court)
Kaufman v. Commissioner
Evans v. Commissioner
Lord v. Commissioner
Schrimsher v. Commissioner
1982 East LLC v. Commissioner

Tax Court Cases: Overview

In response to IRS disallowance of deductions for historic (and other) easement deductions, and taxpayer pushback, the US Federal courts are in the process of deciding cases regarding easement donations. The following list of cases relates to decisions about historic preservation easements, but may not cover all court decisions on that topic since new decisions emerge regularly. Capitol Historic Trust makes no warranty about the completeness or accuracy of this list; a legal or tax professional should be consulted for that purpose.

Cases Decided 1985-1990:
Between 1985 and 1990, five cases were heard in US Tax Court regarding historic preservation easements donations, with the issues centered on easement valuations. The taxpayer prevailed in each case, with the Tax Court upholding valuations of between 10% and 33% for the easements at issue. Those cases are listed here, and the full text of the decisions is available as a PDF document below:

Hilborn v. Commissioner, 85 T.C. 677 (1985)
Nicoladis v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 1988-163 (1988)
Griffin v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 1989-130 (1988)
Losch v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 1988-230 (1988)
Dorsey v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 1990-242 (1990)

Cases Decided 2008 to Present:
The Federal courts started in 2008 to decide a new round of cases involving historic preservation easements. The principal cases, as of our last update, are listed here (which include the Tax Court decision and the appeals decision if applicable) with the full text of the decisions available as a PDF document below: