Colorado farmer Marc Arnusch rejected offers from solar companies to lease 2,700 acres of his family farm in Weld County. ^[1] The IRS opened an audit into Arnusch's tax deduction roughly three years after it was claimed. ^[2] Following the decision to place the conservation easement, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) conducted an audit of Marc Arnusch. ^[3] Marc Arnusch rejected the solar lease offers in favor of establishing a conservation easement on the property. ^[4] The conservation easement was selected to protect the land for continued agricultural use. ^[5] Arnusch claimed a charitable tax deduction based on an independent appraisal of the property's value. ^[6] Arnusch's family hired roughly a dozen specialists, including tax attorneys and engineers, to document the conservation easement. ^[7]