An Introduction For further information about this work, please use the Request Form . At Fraser Milner he provides specialized legal services to clients across Canda, the United States, and other countries who are involved in the visual, performing, and literary arts, music, publishing, media, and mutlimedia. Mr. Milrad also provides consulting services, including strategic planing and marketing for creators, companies, nonprofit organizations, and foundations and tax estate planning for creators, collectors and arts professionals.
Tax can take many forms.
There may be a tax on income, on the gain from the sale of a capital property, on gifts of valuable property made during one's lifetime, and on bequests made from one's estate. In addition, there are direct and indirect taxes, by different levels of government, on various goods and services. This chapter restricts itself to the tax consequences in Canada, the United States, and Mexico of the gifting of art and art objects, primarily for charitable purposes, during the lifetime of the donor or by his or her estate. As taxation rules and regulations change frequently, this discussion will not deal with specific tax rates or with the intricacies of making donations and the instruments used for such donations. Historically, most museums and public institutions have received their finest works through donations of collections from both the rich and famous and the not so rich and not so famous.