Avoiding Increases in Taxes in Audits on Art Appraisals

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Whether you are dealing with art given to you as a gift, or art you inherited as part of an estate or art that you are giving as a charitable donation, there are plenty of potential tax implications. An experienced tax attorney can help you avoid potential tax problems that can arise where there is no art appraisal or there is an incorrectly performed appraisal.

When does the IRS order its own art appraisals? The IRS requires that its own Art Advisory Panel appraise any artwork reported by a taxpayer with a claimed value of more than $50,000.

Who is part of the Art Advisory Panel? You won’t find a tax lawyer on the Art Advisory Panel. Instead, it is made up of 25 different artists, art historians and museum curators who serve without compensation.

What about art with values below $50,000? For deductions claimed on art pieces with a value greater than $5,000, you need to receive a written deduction from a qualified art appraiser. For pieces with a value of between $5,000 and $20,000, the IRS also requires a photograph of the art along with the written appraisal.

How long should I keep a copy of the appraisal? The IRS can challenge any valuation of greater than $5,000 for up to four years after the initial filing, so the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. strongly recommends that you store copies of this information where you can retrieve it when needed.

Avoiding Increases in Taxes in IRS Audits over Your Charitable Giving

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Giving money or goods to a charity is admirable but it can also lead to headaches with the IRS if you don’t do it right. The tax attorneys at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. have dealt with many cases where charity donations being claimed incorrectly were picked up in tax audits and the IRS was looking to assess penalties. As a leading tax attorney in San Francisco, we can offer some tips that can help you to avoid potential problems down the road with a tax filing relating to your charitable giving.

Donating Clothes and Household Goods: One common issue that IRS tax attorneys see with charitable giving comes from donating clothes and household items. If you donate goods with a value of more than $250, you need to get an acknowledgement of the donation in writing from the charity.

Donating Money: If you make a donation of more than $250 to a charity, you need to receive a letter acknowledging this donation from the charity in order to claim a tax exemption. If your donation is under $250, you can either use this type of letter or a bank statement, canceled check or credit card statement as proof of the donation.

Eligible Donations: One of the major issues that an IRS agent will see as a red flag is claiming an ineligible donation. In order for your donation to be tax-deductible, the organization you give it to has to be a registered Exempt Organization.  Also, your charitable deduction cannot include the value of any benefits you received from the charity.  An example would be where you paid $200 to attend a charitable ball for which the charity states that the value of the ticket is $75.  In such an instance your charitable deduction would be $125.

Tips for Surviving a Small Business Tax Audit

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What small business owner would want to get audited by the IRS? Most business owners who receive notice that their business is selected for audit avoid the stress by hiring a criminal tax attorney or an IRS audit specialist attorney to represent the business. An experienced tax attorney knows how to prepare for the audit and can give you the confidence needed to get the best outcome.

The Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. has helped many people with the small business tax audits. Drawing from our experience of tax lawyers directly representing businesses in IRS audits, here are some valuable tips that can help any small business be ready for their date with the IRS:

Stick to the Relevant Facts: Don’t give lengthy explanations to questions from the auditor or start talking about things that aren’t relevant to what was asked. This will only give the auditor other potential avenues for discussions.

Listen to Your Representative: If you are working with a tax attorney lawyer or other professional, make sure you stick to their advice. After all, they have the experience you lack and won’t be intimidated by going through the auditing process.

Bring in the Right Documentation: Make sure that you have all of your receipts or tax records for the year you are being audited for in a system that makes them easy to refer to during the audit session. Don’t being in tax records or receipts from other years; this just opens you up to potential audits on these years as well.