
Courtesy Sotheby’s
In an annual report, the Arts Council England confirmed a record total of £64.5 million worth of art was allocated to U.K. public institutions through the British government’s Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) tax scheme. The total tax settlement from those acquisitions amounts to £40 million across 52 cases.
Through the program, which exists as a provision under U.K. tax law, owners of valuable artworks can offer them to the country in exchange for credit used to offset estate taxes. According to the organization’s 2019 report, the government committee placed 46 objects totaling a value of £58.6 million in public museum collections. The tax settlements from those works totaled £33.6 million. Since 2010, the panel has reported a total £423 million worth of art allocated to museums through the government program and £264.1 million in tax settlements. Museums incur no cost for acquisitions made through the tax plan.Continue Reading