Tax relief on donations of Heritage Items

[Brendan Burgess]

If you donate

• an item (or collection of items) worth at least €150,000
• to an approved National Heritage Institution

You can claim a tax credit for 80% of the value of the item.

The Institutions include:

• The National Gallery
• IMMA
• The Crawford Art Gallery in Cork
• The National Museum
• The National Library
• The National Archives

In addition, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, has the authority to approve further bodies for the purpose of receiving a donation. Such additional bodies must be funded wholly or partly by the State or by a public or local authority.

The following have availed of this extension:

• Dublin City Gallery, the Hugh Lane
• Waterford Museum of Treasures
• Archbishop Marsh's Library
• Irish Architectural Archive
• The Hunt Museum

Say you are feeling generous and want to donate €30,000 to the National Gallery.

1) Contact the National Gallery and find out what work of art they would like which is worth €150,000
2) Buy that work of art and donate it to them.
3) You will get a tax credit of €120,000 against current and future taxes

The cost to you is €30,000

The benefit to the National Gallery is €150,000

Brendan

 

[Brendan Burgess]

Revenue guide: Donation of Heritage Items

Revenue Practice Note

The tax credit can be used against Income Tax, CGT and CAT - it can't be used against USC or PRSI.

List of Heritage Donations made to date

Some examples:

 

[Brendan Burgess]

If you lend an item worth at least €31,740 for public display for at least 10 years to an approved gallery or museum, and subsequently sell it, the gain is exempt from CGT.

https://www.charteredaccountants.ie/taxsource/1997/en/act/pub/0039/nfg/sec0606-nfg.html