Good Morning!

I am aware of many ramifications of museum staff offering monetary valuations to the public. At the last ALI-ABA course I attended, it was explained that we should send a federal form with every deed of gift for items we suspected were above $249 in value acknowledging what we had accepted and, if the appraised amount was not at that time available from an independent appraiser, we simply state above our signature that the appraisal had not been presented at the time we signed the document. Since then, this is the policy we have been following. 

We are a government museum. If we were a private not for profit institution, I understand that this action (valuing objects) would jeopardize our status with the IRS. What bearing does this have on a government museum that functions as a division within a government department regarding the IRS?

The practice, of course, is ticklish for a number of reasons - among them being (assuming you are honest and knowledgeable in your appraisal) either offending people when they are crushed to discover their item is essentially worthless on the market; or causing them to retain or market something you would like to have rather than donate it.  My understanding is that it is an obvious conflict of interest.

For those of you in US museums, what action does the IRS take against government museums should they discover you are valuing collections for donors?  I welcome other input on the subject as well.

Thanks