I talked to H&R Block about the inbound mineral rights check. This is getting complicated, tax wise. The agent thinks this falls under capital gains, because it's coming from an asset that was apparently purchased for investment, and to calculate it right I need to know what it was worth when it came into my possession. For all I know, no one in my family knew my grandfather had bought this land until the gas drilling people knocked on our doors. If my father knew, he never did anything with that knowledge. So somehow I should find out what my portion of that piece of land was worth in 1982, when my father died, and that would be deducted from the amount I'm getting for the mineral rights and reduce the amount I claim as income. I think. Or I claim it with no cost basis and claim the whole amount. I can't help thinking that the cost of finding someone to do that research would negate the savings.
I can understand why this is being treated differently from the lease payment, because this is actually a transfer of property instead of a rent payment. It'll be interesting to see what the documents I get with the payment will say.