A recent article in Forbes analyzes current taxing strategies in the UK and Mexico, which allow fine artists to pay part or all of their taxes with their work.  Called “Acceptance-in-Lieu,” the program offers a tax alternative that allows governments to grow their national collection while collecting a higher percentage of owed tax.  “You have to admire the simplicity of it,” says contributor Robert Wood.  “Say an artist sells one to five pieces of art in one year. He then donates a work of equal value to the state. The more you sell, the more you hand over for taxes.” (more…)

In lieu of paying an inheritance tax, the estate of Lucian Freud has donated a selection of 40 works by Frank Auerbach has been donated to the United Kingdom, covering an approximate £16,250,000 tax bill.  The works will be divided into 11 groups and distributed by Arts Council England to various public collections. (more…)

A collection of 1,500 works, valued at over $1.3 Million, has been seized by the German Customs Agency in Munich after a raid on the son of an elderly Nazi associate.  The works, which include pieces by Max Beckman, Picasso and Matisse, were looted from Jewish owners in the years before and during World War II, with the intent of building an enormous museum for them in Austria.  “We went into the apartment expecting to find a few thousand undeclared euros, maybe a black bank account,” says one Customs spokesman. “But we were stunned with what we found. From floor to ceiling, from bedroom to bathroom, were piles and piles of old food in tins and old noodles. Behind it all these pictures worth tens, hundreds of millions of euros.” (more…)