Estates in the United Kingdom can make donations of paintings and other art as a substitute of paying death taxes in cash. A painting by Frank Auerbach from artist Lucien Freud’s estate resulted in a £16.2 million reduction in taxes. A slideshow of 12 pieces of art given as cultural gifts and placed in museums in exchange for reduced tax bills can be seen here.
See JLM, Art in Lieu of Taxes: A Slide Show, Trust Marketing, Dec. 17, 2014.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.
