Tax Office Incentives for Land Conservation
20 March 2003 at 12:03 pm
Land holders interested in managing and conserving their land will now be entitled to tax incentives when entering into voluntary conservation agreements with government agencies.
The Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Dr David Kemp, says the change extends already existing tax incentives and provides financial benefits to landowners who help conserve Australia’s environment through entering perpetual conservation covenants.
A conservation covenant is a voluntary agreement entered into between a landowner and an authorised body, such as the Trust for Nature, which sets out actions to manage and conserve native vegetation. Previously, tax incentives were not available for conservation covenants entered into with state or local government agencies.
Dr Kemp says the incentive was designed to encourage a significantly larger number of people to enter into conservation covenants.
He says conservation covenants are becoming increasingly popular with over 2,000 covenants covering nearly 1 million hectares of land already entered into or currently in the process of negotiation.
The government says the change will apply to covenants entered into on or after 1 July 2002.
This extends tax incentives to people entering conservation covenants with government agencies, such as state departments of parks and wildlife, where they had previously only applied if entered into with deductible gift recipients.
It allows people to claim an income tax deduction for any decrease in land value as a result of entering into a qualifying conservation covenant provided the landowner receives no payment for entering into it.
Capital gains tax provisions continue to apply as if it was a sale or gift of land.
Qualifying conservation covenants must be approved by, or through a program approved by, the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment and Heritage.
A conservation covenant is registered on a property’s land title, formalising the commitment by landholders to put in place conservation activities such as fencing off rare plants, seed collecting and tree planting.
If you would like a copy of the Fact Sheet on Conservation Covenant Concessions just send us an e-mail to corpnews@probonoaustralia.com.au.
