IRS Panel Finds Problems With Deductions Taken by Art Donors

The Internal Revenue Service has recalculated the value of hundreds of pieces of artwork for which deductions were claimed by taxpayers who donated them to charities or left them to heirs.

As it has in the past, the tax agency’s Art Advisory Panel found that many people exaggerated the value of paintings and other items contributed to charities and placed too small a value on objects left to heirs.

Each year, a committee of art experts meets to review appraisals submitted by people the IRS is auditing. The committee steps in when a taxpayer says a work is worth at least $20,000.

In its report for 2007, the art panel said that 61 percent of 1,002 items in 131 cases had been valued incorrectly. The committee agreed with taxpayers on 36 percent of the appraisals; 3 percent needed further study.

Taxpayers had claimed a total value of $279-million for the items, most of which were estate and noncharitable gifts to heirs.

The art panel recommended total adjustments of more than $94.5-million. That figure included a 47-percent reduction in the values of items for which an excessive charitable deduction had been claimed, and a 58-percent increase on undervalued items in estate and noncharitable gift appraisals.