[Nhcoll-l] collection assessments

[Brown, Matthew A]

Dear Dennis,

For policy decisions I typically refer to Malaro’s “Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections” on this issue, pages 251-268. Also, refer to the Appraisals section of IRS Pub No 561 for up to date regulations-  https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.irs.gov_publications_p561_ar02.html-23d0e1653&d=AwIGaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=bXHkBUgBtZx7TOaAzFf2hlV3GOHD8unSinEmy4-raqs&s=CrpaIiPHomXvfQkaBljqqSwIYuPyemYYJVY4sVtzTJk&e=  for current

The rules requiring appraisals differ depending on amount claimed for deduction, under $5000 an appraisal isn’t required, but the donee is also excluded from making an appraisal.   

Regarding recommendations, Malaro cautions against recommending just one appraiser, and also against the appearance of endorsing an appraiser. This can be difficult in disciplines where there isn’t a wide market of appraisers to choose from. My policy is to not recommend appraisers at all, since in vertebrate paleontology fossil appraisers are often also fossil dealers. Several dealers have been convicted of smuggling specimens from China and Mongolia in recent years, so my personal preference is to not put myself or my institution in a position of conflict or appearance of conflict. 

Best,

Matt


  


Matthew A. Brown
Director of Museum Operations, Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory
Lecturer, Department of Geological Sciences
Jackson School of Geosciences
The University of Texas at Austin
R7600, Austin, TX 78758
Office:(512)232-5515
matthewbrown at utexas.edu
jsg.utexas.edu/vpl



> On Nov 24, 2015, at 6:07 PM, Dennis R Paulson <dpaulson at pugetsound.edu> wrote:
> 
> Kevin, we have a donor of an insect collection who wants to know if they can write off the donation for tax purposes. I know of other insect collections where donors have done this, with specimens valued in the neighborhood of $5 each by an assessor. I assume vertebrate specimens are worth a lot more than that. I suppose the value should be the same whether for insurance or taxes.
> 
> So from what you say it appears that you actually designate the value of your specimens. Are there any sort of published guidelines?
> 
> Thanks for responding.
> 
> Dennis
> 
> From: Kevin Winker <kevin.winker at alaska.edu>
> Date: Tuesday, November 24, 2015 at 4:02 PM
> To: Dennis R Paulson <dpaulson at pugetsound.edu>
> Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] collection assessments
> 
> Hi, Dennis. It is commonly done for insurance purposes, but I haven't heard of it for tax purposes. We do our own insurance evaluations.
> 
> Best, K.
> 
> On Tue, Nov 24, 2015 at 2:57 PM, Dennis R Paulson <dpaulson at pugetsound.edu> wrote:
>> Hello, all.
>> 
>> I’m writing to ask if any of you have the name and email of one or more people who assess the value of collections for tax purposes. This is something we need this year for the first time. I don’t think I’ve seen anything about this on nhcoll before.
>> 
>> Regards,
>> 
>> Dennis
>> --
>> Dennis Paulson, Director Emeritus
>> Slater Museum of Natural History
>> University of Puget Sound
>> 1500 N. Warner, #1088
>> Tacoma, WA 98416-1088
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.pugetsound.edu_academics_academic-2Dresources_slater-2Dmuseum_&d=AwIGaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=bXHkBUgBtZx7TOaAzFf2hlV3GOHD8unSinEmy4-raqs&s=Q80bOBWwYBYGJ4U6B8FNc_I99amlQ2cJD1b4dKLfyDw&e= 
>> 
>> 
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> 
> -- 
> Kevin Winker
> University of Alaska Museum
> 907 Yukon Drive
> Fairbanks, AK 99775
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> _______________________________________________ 
> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
> society. See https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.spnhc.org&d=AwIGaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=bXHkBUgBtZx7TOaAzFf2hlV3GOHD8unSinEmy4-raqs&s=o4nWEyOS02w2Ju5voUwMeUd0DpRsU8xYVC-JuIqc_fQ&e=  for membership information.
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