Donations, bequests and life insuranceBe a part of the Louvre’s historySupport the Louvre | Donations, bequests and life insurance | Artwork donations

Donations in kind

Beyond providing financial support to the museum’s projects, you can also support the Louvre by adding to its collection via a donation in kind of one or multiple works of art.

Artwork donations must contribute to the development of a given collection, by enhancing its qualities or filling in its missing elements. They are therefore part of a prior agreement with the museum and must be submitted for approval to the Acquisitions Committee by physical presentation.

Donations can be made while the artwork’s owner is still living, or upon their passing. These configurations are regulated by different processes which allow for significant tax rebates.

If you wish to donate or bequeath one or multiple artworks, you can choose one of five different configurations. Whichever you prefer (donation, bequest or gift), any contribution made to the museum will be exempt from transfer taxes usually levied upon donated or bequeathed goods. Beyond this exemption, defined in Article 795 of the French General Tax Code, there are specific tax rebates for which you can apply.

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Direct donations

Terms

This is the simplest configuration: by post, the donor gives written notice of their desire to make a donation, and the museum confirms its interest in the artwork and price appraisal. The work is then submitted for approval to the Acquisitions Committee and is subsequently immediately transferred to the museum. This transfer is final.

Tax rebates

Artwork donations are likened to monetary donations in French law; therefore, a direct donation to the museum allows the donor to benefit from the tax rebate stipulated by Article 200 of the French General Tax Code, which is as follows:

66% of the artwork’s monetary value can be claimed as an income tax deduction (for up to 20% of your taxable income).

Note that if the deductible amount is over 20% of your taxable income, the remaining deductible amount can be transferred to your income tax over the next 5 years, with the same terms applied.

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Deeded gifts

Terms

A deed may be used if a donor wishes to enforce conditions for the preservation or display of the artwork, or to ensure a statement is included in the artwork’s label, while ensuring that the donation conforms to the available share without depleting the reserved portions of the donor’s heirs. As with direct donations, deeded gifts are immediate and final.

Tax rebates

Deeded gifts offer similar tax benefits to direct donations, that is, an exemption from transfer taxes and a 66% deduction of the donated work’s monetary value from your income tax amount.

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Deeded gifts subject to usufruct

Terms

The deed may also provide for the donor to hold the work until the end of their life, upon which the work will become part of the museum’s collection. Preserving usufruct may impact the monetary value of the donation made to the museum, depending on the donor’s age.

Tax rebates

This donation configuration takes advantage of the possibility for the division of ownership stipulated by French law: the donor transfers the bare ownership of their property to the museum while retaining the usufruct, or life interest, of the property either for themselves or a person of their choosing, such as a spouse, child, or third party. The donor, then known as the usufructuary (or usufruitier in French), may then hold the work for their entire life (or they can choose to waive the usufruct before the end of their life), while benefitting immediately from the tax rebate specified in Article 200 of the French General Tax Code as it applies to their donation of the artwork’s bare ownership. 66% of the artwork’s bare ownership value can be claimed as an income tax deduction (for up to 20% of your taxable income).

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Gifts in lieu of tax

Terms

Gifts in lieu of tax, described in Article 1716 bis of the French General Tax Code, allow for the donor to pay off a monetary debt (transfer tax inter vivos, sharing tax, property wealth tax) by gifting to the French State objects of high artistic or historical value that they have owned for over five years. As the artworks donated through this configuration must be of extraordinary value, the procedure is to be carried out by the French Interministerial Commission for the Conservation of National Art Heritage. It is highly exceptional and subject to agreement by the Ministries of Culture and Finance.

Tax rebates

If you own an artwork of such artistic or historical quality that it meets the requirements of the process pertaining to gifts in lieu of tax (Article 1716 bis of the French General Tax Code), it can be gifted in lieu of part or full payment of taxes owed, such as inheritance tax, donation-partage (gift with distribution) tax, or property wealth tax. Upon appraisal of the corresponding rebate value by the Ministries of Culture and Finance, the transfer of the artwork to the French State, to be held by the museum, is made in lieu of tax payment. The collection of the tax is suspended for the full duration of the examination of the gift proposal.

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Bequests

Terms

Bequests are a testamentary disposition enforced after the death of the donor, and allow them to transfer their property of one or multiple works to the museum. As with other forms of donation, bequeathed artworks must be approved by the Acquisitions Committee before becoming part of the museum’s collections. The donor should therefore make sure that the artworks they wish to donate are within the scope of donations made to the Louvre before adding them to their testament.

Tax rebates

Works bequeathed to the museum are exempt from transfer taxes (Article 795 of the French General Tax Code). Furthermore, the heir or legatee to an artwork is also exempt from transfer taxes and any other taxes concerning the transmission of the item if they gift it to the French State within the timeframe set out for the establishment of the act recording the transfer or the declaration of succession.