Page 50 - April 2017 Life In Naplles Magazine

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ASK THE ARTSPERTS DONATING ART TO A CHARITY AUCTION www.harmonmeek.com

by Juliana Meek and Kristine Meek

Dear Artsperts:

My neighbor is serving on the fundraising committee for a
local Naples charity and has asked me to donate a painting for the
fundraising gala’s silent auction. Do you know if that is tax deductible
and do you have any advice for me?
Signed,
Asked to Give

Dear Asked,
Naples does have a lot of charity events and a lot of very worthy
charitable organizations. There are a few things to determine before
we can say if it is tax deductible for you and we also want to note that
we are not accountants, so please do ask your accountant as well.
We will assume the painting you wish to donate was created
by you, i.e. you are the artist, then the IRS will only allow you to
deduct your cost in materials (paints, brushes, canvas) in creating this
particular painting (you cannot deduct your time spent creating the
work or the lifetime of education and training you spent building
your skills). Often artists don’t bother trying to deduct as a result.
Some artists will ask that the charity pay them a set price, give them
a percentage of the auctioned price, or that the charity (or one of
their supporters) purchase the work from them. You may be better
off making a cash donation to the IRS designated charity which can
be 100 percent tax deductible.
We would also caution that you ask how the work you are
donating will be displayed at the auction and what other works
may also be included in the auction. You may also want to know
more about the expected audience at the event. All these may factor
into how well your painting will sell at this particular event on this
particular date. Many times art work, as well as other donated items,
sell for less than their stated fair market value as people are looking
to bid just under what the stated retail value is (even though for the
winning bidder to get a tax deduction they only get a deduction for
the difference between the fair market value and their winning bid
over and above that value). So you have to weigh the benefits of
donating a painting to the charity with the risks that your work sells
for less than you expect, which may hurt your reputation. Again you
may find other ways to support the charity such as donating a work The March 1995 cover of the no longer in publication Focus magazine which shows committee
chairwomen selecting a Richard Segalman painting from the Harmon-Meek Gallery for their
to be reproduced as a poster or stationary, this would publicize your auction to benefit the Collier County Medical Society Alliance.
work and not jeopardize your prices.
Sincerely,
The Artsperts

50 Life in Naples | April 2017