Art Deduction Scams Targeted in IRS Crackdown on Rich Tax Cheats

The next step in the IRS’s crackdown on wealthy tax cheats is going after inflated art valuations that produce outsized deductions.

The IRS has added improper art write-offs to its annually updated “dirty dozen” list of common scams, spotlighting an uptick in those deductions as tax avoidance.

The increased scrutiny on art donations also stems from the IRS having more resources thanks to the tens of billions in funding from the 2022 tax-and-climate law. Those enforcement efforts also seem to coincide with a global art market slowdown. Global sales fell 4% to $65 billion in 2023, a break from ...