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Cooney, Farrell to Discuss Land Preservation Tax Incentives

March 24, 2011

Melissa J. Cooney and Ryan P. Farrell of Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle will serve as panelists at a March 30 public education forum in Woodstock on the income tax benefits available to landowners who choose to permanently preserve their land.

In December 2010, Congress passed a law extending enhanced tax benefits available to individuals who protect private land. The incentives allow landowners to deduct 50 percent of their adjusted gross income for up to 16 years. Farmers can deduct up to 100 percent of their adjusted gross income. The incentives are set to expire Dec. 31, 2011.

The Land Conservancy of McHenry County and the McHenry County Farm Bureau will co-sponsor the event. The 10 a.m. seminar and a lunch that follows are free, but participants must register by calling the Land Conservancy at (815) 337-9502. The event takes place at the Farm Bureau, 1102 McConnell Road, Woodstock.

Cooney, a partner whose practice at Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle includes land use and conservation easements, joined the firm in 1991. Farrell, a partner and a CPA, focuses on business and transactional law with extensive experience in real estate, banking and taxation.

Other forum panelists include Scott Kling, who serves as an appraiser with City Suburban Appraisers in Batavia, and David O’Brien, an accountant with O’Brien Farm Management Service in Harvard.