An Artistic Way to Pay Your Taxes

Many wealthy individuals enjoy collecting things, including artwork. While artwork can be a source of income for some, as well as solely a collectible for others, it can’t be used it to pay your taxes. Well, at least not in the United States, anyways. However, there are some countries in which artwork is a completely acceptable way to pay your taxes.

In the United Kingdom, for example, between the years 2009 and 2013 alone, taxpayers used £124.5 million worth of art to reduce their tax bill. UK citizens can even get the full fair market value off their art without having to sale it. Plus they don’t have to pay taxes on any gain. The program used to be mainly for estate taxes, but since 2013 residents of the UK can use it to settle their unpaid taxes.

Meantime, in Mexico, the art-for-taxes program is even sweeter, especially for artists, who can actually donate their works instead of paying taxes. The program allows artists to donate the same amount of artwork as the value of the pieces they sell each year. It not only encourages talented artists to continue creating, but it has also helped the country accumulate a large and valuable collection of some the country’s most recognized artists.

Although this program seems to work well in these countries there is no such program in the U.S. However, for professional artists in the U.S. there are many tax deductions available, which can help reduce their tax bill. So although artists and collectors might not be able to pay the IRS in paintings and sculptors, with the right tax planning help from GROCO they can still come out ahead.