Reported by Johan Sheridan

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a $6.25 million settlement with Sotheby’s, the iconic New York City auction house, for helping clients avoid millions in sales taxes. From 2010 to 2020, Sotheby’s let clients claim phony tax exemptions on millions of dollars in art purchases.

“A prominent auction house went out of its way to help wealthy clients avoid paying millions of dollars in sales taxes on their art purchases,” said Acting New York State Tax Commissioner Amanda Hiller. “This fraudulent activity has been stopped and Sotheby’s is being held accountable.”

According to the Attorney General’s Office, Sotheby’s told clients to pretend to buy art for resale when they were actually curating their own personal galleries, which let them skip sales tax. In one example, a major client used tax exemption forms to buy $27 million in art this way between 2010 and 2015. Sotheby’s knew this collector wasn’t reselling, but still accepted their forms.

Read full report: https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/northeast/sothebys-settles-new-york-6-25m-ax-fraud/amp/