Wall Street’s Fringes Draw IRS Ire Over Green ‘Tax Scam’ Sales
Investors face audits, back taxes and fines as U.S. cracks down on use of syndicated conservation easements sold by large networks of promoters
New York fund manager Andrew Beer got an unsolicited email offer a few months ago that sounded too good to be true -- join other investors to buy 276 acres of land in Mississippi, promise never to develop it, and get whopping tax deductions of as much as five times the amount invested.
The pitch was for what’s known as a syndicated conservation easement, a land deal that the Internal Revenue Service says is often an abusive tax shelter. The offer came from a family office with a website touting partnerships with Middle East wealth funds. As an added enticement, the salesman offered Beer options to insure against the risk of IRS audits and investor-liability lawsuits.