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Sirote’s Tax Controversy team, including Greg Rhodes, Ronald Levitt, Michelle Levin, and David Wooldridge, secured a major victory in a conservation easement case before the U.S. Tax Court. Sirote represented the taxpayers,  former NFL star Warren Sapp (who played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the then Oakland Raiders)  and his business partner, Dr. Rajagopalan Kumar. The U.S. Tax Court ruled for the taxpayers, finding that the value of the conservation easement donation was worth as much as Sapp & Kumar claimed, if not more.

In the mid-2000s, Sapp and Kumar  (and others in a partnership) bought 120 acres just west of Asheville, NC, for nearly $3 million. The partners intended to develop the property into a high-end residential development. In 2006, however, the partners decided to limit the development and instead donated a conservation easement over 89 of such acres to the North American Land Trust. In the months leading up to the donation, lots on the property had sold for $750,000 to $1 million. The appraiser hired by the taxpayers valued the conservation easement at $4.9 million. 

The IRS argued unsuccessfully that both Sapp and Kumar owed more taxes and should also pay accuracy penalties. The U.S. Tax Court ruled otherwise, finding that neither party owes more taxes or has to pay any penalties.

The case was tried in 2015. In an opinion filed on November 19, 2020, Judge Mark V. Holmes wrote that “the fair market value of the easement was worth at least as much as what they claimed.” Click here to read the opinion.