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Canadian Cultural Property donations

Canadian Cultural Property donations are subject to the Cultural Property Export and Import Act. The provisions of the Act support the preservation of Canada's artistic, historic and scientific heritage by ensuring that cultural property of outstanding significance and national importance remains in Canada. Only cultural institutions, public authorities and governing bodies that have received official designation from the Minster of Canadian Heritage, by demonstrating the ability to preserve cultural property and make it available to the public, are eligible to apply to the Canadian Cultural Property Review Board (CCPERB) for work to be certified as Canadian Cultural Property. There is also a tax incentive for the donor. Those who gift work that has been certified as Canadian Cultural Property by CCPERB receive a 100% tax credit of the fair market value and the donation is not subject to capital gains tax.

For appraisals of Cultural Property, CCPERB requires two independent appraisals for works valued $50,000.00 or over. When you use ADAC, we do that work for you. ADAC secures the appropriate market experts and coordinates the whole process, rectifying any discrepancies along the way. We provide you with a single report, compliant with CCPERB requirements and ready to send with your application.

Cultural institutions should provide the following documents in order to proceed with the appraisal process:

• A signed “Letter of Agreement – Estimate, Terms and Conditions" form. We will send you this with your estimate. 
• A completed "Appraisal Documentation" form detailing the information on the donated work(s). 
• Download ADAC Appraisal Documentation Form 
• A colour image of the work. Images should be submitted electronically, preferably in JPEG format (800 x 600 pixels or 11 x 8 inches, 72 dpi).
• Condition Report(s)
• The statement of Outstanding Significance and National Importance (OS/NI). This will assist appraisers greatly in contextualizing the work and appraising its fair market value. CCPERB's OS/NI Justification guidelines can be found here.
• Any additional information that would assist in the determination of current fair market value, such as bibliographic references, biography or Curriculum Vitae of the artist.

Visit CCPERB

For further information, email appraisals@ad-ac.ca or call us at 416-934-1583.

Charitable gifts (gifts in kind)

Donated works that are not certified as Cultural Property, but have a fair market value of over $1,000.00 CAD are required by the Canada Revenue Agency to obtain a professional appraisal. In this case, the charity will issue a tax receipt to the donor. Typically, the donor will be required to pay capital gains tax on gifts in kind and the tax credit is a smaller percentage than the credit for works certified as Cultural Property. However, there is no application process for straight gifts and there is no requirement for two appraisals for works with a fair market value of $50,000.00 or over.

We require the same documentation for appraisals of gifts in kind as we do for Cultural Property appraisals, with the exception of the OS/NI. If a condition report is not available, we may also be able to arrange for an inspection of the work.

For more information please refer the Canada Revenue Agency's pamphlet Gifts and Income Tax.

Insurance Appraisals

ADAC does not currently provide insurance appraisals for public collections, but we may be able to assist you with a referral or coordination. Please contact us to see if we can help.