Standard 10: Tax Benefits and Appraisals

Notify potential donors of tax implications, recommend appraisals for significant gifts, emphasize responsibility, and provide information on tax benefits. Land trusts work diligently to see that every charitable gift of land or conservation agreement meets provincial and federal tax law requirements, to avoid fraudulent or abusive transactions and to uphold public confidence in land conservation. As the beneficiary of the tax receipt, the landowner, not the land trust, has the primary responsibility to comply with the specific requirements regarding federal or provincial tax deductions for the donation of land or conservation agreements. Nevertheless, land trusts have a responsibility to see that those requirements are met and should take reasonable measures to ensure that landowners understand those requirements and consult their own advisors about meeting them. The land trust’s role is important in that deductions that are overturned by the Canadian Revenue Agency may make future potential donors wary of working with land trusts, could lead to investigations of the land trust and, ultimately, can reduce public support for deductions as incentives for land conservation. A land trust must take care never to guarantee or appear to guarantee that a deduction will be allowed or what its value will be, but the land trust can help guide the landowner and establish policies to protect the land trust.