Review
"He is the author of Preserving Family Lands: Book I and the nation's leading authority on estate tax planning for landowners." --
The West Virginia Land Trust & the Charleston Chapter of West Virginia Sociey of CPAs"He[Mr. Small] has worked with landowners to preserve a wide range of property, from small family parcels, timberland, and dairy farms in the northeast to western ranches, Atlantic coast barrier islands and ranchland and wildlife habitat in the southeast.
The goal is to give landowners, attorneys and estate planners in the region a better understanding of how estate planning and conservation gifts can protect land uses and natural areas...." -- The Florida Bar Association, The Myakka Conservancy, Inc., and the Trust for Public Lands
"Mr. Small is a much sought after speaker and consultant to the national land conservation community." -- Pitkin County Open Space & Trails Program and Aspen Valley Land Trust
"Mr. Small is a nationally acclaimed authority on this topic" -- New Jersey Conservation Foundation
"Small has become one of the most highly sought-after tax attorneys in the nation where large family land holdings are concerned. He has helped families to save ranches in the west that encompass tens of thousands of acres, as well as plantations in the South, seaside retreats in the East, and some of the most environmentally significant lakeshore property in northern Michigan.
Small's books, Preserving Famly Lands: Book I and Preserving Family Lands: Book II underscore the importance of planning for families with valuable land holdings.
Small should know. In the early 1980s, he worked for the Internal Revenue Service and was the principal author of the federal regulations which now govern tax deductions for conservation easement gifts." -- Little Traverse Conservancy, Vol. XVIII, No. 1
"Stephen J. Small has captivated audiences nationwide with his remarkable ability to transfer practical information on complex taxation issues. Mr. Small literally wrote the book on conservation easements." -- Maine State Bar Association
"The nation's top authority on saving land and money with conservation esements: tax attorney Stephen Small" -- Forbes, 1998 Investment Guide
"The sad fact is that real estate values on developable land have soared so high in Massachusetts and many other parts of the country during the past decade that state and federal estate taxes are eating up the proceeds of many an inheritance, forcing heirs to sell off land and homes they had hoped to keep within their families. Small has become nationally known as the guru of conservation easements." -- Sanctuary, The Journal of the Massachusetts Audubon Society
Some landowners are motivated by a love of the land accompanied by a growing awareness that government alone cannot assure conservation. "It's up to the individual, too," said Mr. Small. "And the way to start is by seeking ways to control what happens to your own backyard." -- The New York Times
About the Author
Stephen J. Small is a tax attorney at his own firm, the Law Office of Stephen J. Small, Esq., P.C, in Boston. He is the author of The Federal Tax Law of Conservation Easements (Land Trust Alliance, 1985); Preserving Family Lands: Book I (third edition, Landowner Planning Center, 1998); and Preserving Family Lands: Book II -- More Planning Strategies for the Future (Landowner Planning Center, 1997). Both Preserving Family Lands books have sold more than 90,000 copies.
Before going into private practice, Mr. Small was an attorney-advisor in the Office of Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, D.C., where he wrote the federal income tax regulations on conservation easements.
Mr. Small advises landowners on federal income and estate tax planning to help preserve valued family land, including planning for the next generation of ownership. He has worked with private landowners around the country to preserve a wide range of property, from small family parcels, timberland, and dairy farms to western ranches, Atlantic coast barrier islands, farmland, and wildlife habitat.
Mr. Small has given more than one hundred fifty speeches, seminars, and workshops around the country on tax planning for landowners, succession planning for family lands, and tax incentives for land conservation. He is a member of the Massachusetts and District of Columbia Bars.
