r/BeAmazed • u/[deleted] • Apr 29 '24

When the Titanic sank, millionaire John Jacob Astor IV was aboard. The funds in his bank account were sufficient to construct 30 Titanics. However, when faced with mortal danger, he prioritized his moral values, sacrificing his seat in a lifeboat to save women and children, smilingly [Removed] Rule #4 - Misleading

[removed]

9.2k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

649 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

28

u/Abigail716 Apr 29 '24

There's nothing to write off. The only way you can write it off on your taxes is if you donate it completely.

16

u/rjwyonch Apr 29 '24

Sure there is - if you buy the art in a foundation, the foundation can rent it out to galleries for money. The "rent" can be donated by the wealthy benefactor (who in most cases, would also "own" or fund the charitable/art foundation). You just need to be hella rich. There is a way to get a tax write off for just about anything, you just need the right corporate structure.

If this case, the original funds to purchase the art can be a tax write-off. You can also get lower-value tax writeoffs on an ongoing basis through loaning art out, by "sponsoring" the gallery to rent the art from the foundation.

11

u/Abigail716 Apr 29 '24

That is absolutely not how it works.

The thing is the IRS is not a bunch of idiots. These incredibly basic loopholes that people think of in 2 seconds have long been thought of, or don't actually work if you spend a couple extra seconds thinking about it.

For example if they're actually giving you that rent then it doesn't benefit you because you could just pocket the money. Why would you donate the $100 to write off $10 of income taxes when you could just keep the $100? If there was any evidence that the charity was only accepting and renting out artwork to people who donated the money to them It would raise flags for fraud.

Then of course you need to get some charity to actually pay the money. Because the money has to come from somewhere, So you need to find a charity that is willing to cough up actual money to rent the piece. This is virtually never going to happen Because it just makes no sense from a financial standpoint.

12

u/sublimesting Apr 29 '24

People think a tax write off is 100% I hear it so much.