Kaufman v. Shulman

BOUDIN, Circuit Judge.

This case comprises appeals by both sides — the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (“the IRS”) and the taxpayers Gordon and Lorna Kaufman — from a decision of the Tax Court. The subject is deductions on the couple’s joint returns of the asserted value of Lorna Kaufman’s donation to the National Architectural Trust of a fagade easement restricting alterations on her Boston house. A brief description of the background events and proceedings follows, which is elaborated where necessary later in this decision.

In 1999, Lorna Kaufman bought for $1,050,000 a row house in the…