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Tax Deduction Of Hazardous Waste Cleanup Costs: Harmonizing Federal Tax And Environmental Policies, Jeffrey M. Gaba

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The issue of the deductibility of environmental cleanup costs involves the complex and painful intersection of tax and environmental law. The basic issue is whether environmental remediation costs may be immediately deducted as ordinary and necessary expenses or whether they must they be capitalized as improvements to land. A recent revenue ruling by the IRS, Rev. Rul. 94-38, addresses a relatively simple situation but basically leaves the most difficult issues unresolved.

This article discusses whether cleanup expenses may be immediately deducted when the payments were made by the current landowner and 1) the contamination was caused and cleaned up by …