JohnW15
Intuit Alumni

Retirement tax questions

You don't need to enter this on your return, or in TurboTax.  Amounts received for granting easements aren't reported as income on your tax return. 

Rather, the payment lowers your basis in the property, and that only becomes important later, if and when you sell the land.  The only time you report the payment as income is when the payment exceeds your basis in the property. 

Please see "Easements" on page 3 of IRS Publication 544, Sales and Other Dispositions of Assets for more information.  (Note:  This is the 2017 version of this publication; the new one hasn't been issued yet, but the relevant information is still valid.) 




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