January 04, 2023

Professor Roger Colinvaux was quoted in The Wall Street Journal on December 21, 2022. The article examined the value that Donald Trump placed on 150 acres of woodland, which he pledged to preserve on his Westchester County, N.Y., estate. This enabled Mr. Trump to take a large charitable deduction on his federal taxes. That deduction is now under the scrutiny of the IRS as to whether or not it was improperly documented or overvalued.

The Wall Street Journal
Date: December 21, 2022
By: Peter Grant and Joe Palazzolo
Woodlands Preservation Emerges as Issue in President Trump's Personal Income Tax Filings; IRS agents debated whether to pursue a penalty for overstating the value of a conservation easement in Westchester County, N.Y.

. . .
“The value that Mr. Trump put on Seven Springs had earlier come under fire by New York Attorney General Letitia James who filed a civil lawsuit against Mr. Trump in September, saying it was based on a "fraudulent" appraisal. The joint committee report indicated that its authors and the IRS both believe the matter is worth additional scrutiny.

"The IRS is investigating the legitimacy of the deduction and whether it was improperly documented or overvalued," said Roger Colinvaux, a law professor at Catholic University of America and former counsel to the Joint Committee on Taxation, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.”

. . .

Click here to view the article in The Wall Street Journal.