A couple of thoughts.  First, the IRS doesn't give a hoot about
"accessioning".   This is a museum made-up term that has no legal meaning.
The IRS only cares if title has been transferred to the recepient and if the
specimen will be used in a way that falls within the purpose of the
organization.  Certainly use of a specimen for educational purposes by an
educational institution fulfills that criteria.   Even if the specimen will
not be used in accordance with the mission the donor can still get a tax
deduction, just not as big a one.

Secondly, a museum (or other 501c3) does not have to keep a specimen for two
years before deaccessioning (another made-up museum term that the IRS
doesn't care about).   The mid-1980's tax law changes required that museums
file an 8282 form if an object for a tax deduction was taken via an 8283
form (Non-Cash Charitable Contributions) ceases to be the property of the
institution within 2 years of the gift.   My understanding is that this
allows the IRS to check on the relationship between the appraised value (in
the 8283 form) and the value received upon sale by the institution (in the
8282 form).   I do not believe it adversely affects the donor's original tax
deduction, BUT I COULD BE WRONG and would appreciate one of our tax experts
opinions here.

Hope this helps.

Janice Klein
Director
Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, Kendall College
[log in to unmask]


-----Original Message-----
From: Elizabeth A. Moore <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, February 14, 2000 1:19 PM
Subject: donations


>I have a question about tax deductions and donations.
>
>First, some background:  We are a state museum and have a foundation
through
>which donations are given.  Specimens, money, gifts-in-kind, etc. are
>donated to the foundation which has proper status for tax deductible
>contributions for donors.  Donors receive the acknowledgement letter
>necessary for their tax purposes from the foundation.  For specimens, the
>foundation then transfers ownership of the specimen to the museum; we then
>accession the specimen.   This procedure with the foundation is outlined in
>our collections policies, the foundation can only accept specimens that the
>museum agrees in advance to accept.   Our Registrar makes sure that we have
>all the proper documentation (deed-of-gift, receipts, appraisals, etc.) and
>that ownership is clearly transferred to the museum.  I know that we have
to
>keep objects accessioned for at least two years before we can deaccession
>them.  We've never accessioned an object with the intent to deaccession so
>have never had a problem with this.  We have also been through the "Legal
>Primer..."
>
>My question is this:  Say we have a situation where a donor offers a
>specimen (say, for example, a taxidermied head) that we do not wish to
>accession into the collections.  The education department would like it for
>programs.  We do not accession specimens that are in the education
>department because it has already been determined that the specimens are
not
>desired for the permanent collections and given the nature of hands-on
>programs, we do
>not expect that these specimens will necessarily last all that long anyway.
>What are the legal and/or tax implications for a donation of a specimen
that
>is not accessioned?  Can a donor potentially receive a tax deduction for a
>specimen if it is not accessioned?
>
>
>
>Dr. Elizabeth A. Moore, Curator of Collections
>Virginia Museum of Natural History
>1001 Douglas Avenue
>Martinsville, VA  24112
>[log in to unmask]

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).