Shawn O'Brien discusses the IRS's new conservation easement office in Reuters’ Checkpoint News

Reuters’ Checkpoint News recently featured Shawn O’Brien’s insights on the IRS’s newly created Office of Conservation Easements, which centralizes the agency’s handling of the more than 1,100 conservation easement cases pending in the US Tax Court and under examination. The new office replaces the uniform settlement initiative the IRS rolled out in May, and Shawn said the shift may reflect limited taxpayer uptake of that earlier offer.

Shawn, whose practice advises investor partners on settlement decisions, said the office’s biggest opportunity is to speed up how quickly settlements are finalized once a taxpayer agrees to terms. He noted that taxpayers have faced waits of up to two years for the IRS to calculate and issue a final bill after a settlement, all while interest continues to accrue, calling the delay “ridiculous.” He also said the office should proactively flag options like an IRC § 6603 deposit, which lets taxpayers stop interest from running on a potential liability while a dispute is pending, something he noted the IRS’s May settlement terms didn’t explain. Shawn added that he hopes the office broadens taxpayer eligibility for settlement and moves away from generic, computer-generated correspondence in favor of more tailored communication.