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THE HALTON HILLS Saturday October ma Page Investing in art a good decision By SOMA ZIMMERMAN People in the know have been in vesting in homegrown Canadian art for years And many have made a lot of money As only one example two very small maybe 16 by 12 inches early oils by Canadian artist Jack Bush sold recently in a Toronto gallery for each Their original price a 72 fold increase which by any standards is very hefty lion And this is by no means an The very best bluechip stocks r bonds would be hard press to match thai performance or even come close Art when it s strictly f r invest purposes ib treated like any other investment and enjoys all the tax advantages But there arc several characteristics unique to the of art that the investor should be aware of In most instances except for art owned by dealers and artists a work of art is considered to be a capital property However the major dif between art and other in vestments is that any pr it made on art is not taxable until it s disposed of Interest or dividends on stocks or bonds is taxable annually Also any costs incurred in acquir art such as freight commis sions sales tax and insurance form part of its total cost for tax purposes Similarly most costs of disposal reduce the over all profit for tax pur poses The Income Tax Act contains specific rules for what it defines as listed personal property includes any print etching drawing painting sculpture or other similar work of art In order to be classifed as such items must first be personal use proper ty which generally means any pro perty used principally for personal use and enjoyment Another thing is that the is deemed to have a cost equal to the greater of its actual cost or The selling price is similarly defined to be the greater of the actual selling price or Si It very important to note that capital losses personal use pro perty art not tax deductible unless it is listed as I Also tosses ire only deductible against gains As well as that LPP losses can on be applied against gains of the current year the prev three years and the follow seven years Other capital losses on investments can be carried back three years and forward indefinite ly Therefore the investor must be wary of disposing of art at a loss if there are no gains Art acquired for business pur poses may be depreciated for tax purposes However this removes it from the LPP category so neither the base nor capital losses will be allowed For CA advice on TV see Your Wealth available on broadcast channels in Ontario and on satellite across Canada or see Money in the Bank on your community cable channel Money care is general financial ad vice by Canada chartered Zimmerman is In In Toronto MM I until I and I kilt lira DO COME TRUE When you find your DREAM HOME in the HALTON HILLS H0MESTYLE REALTORS Our HOMESTYLE Real Estate Guide reaches over homes every week including Georgetown Acton Erin and the surrounding rural communities EXCEPTIONAL RATES SUPERIOR SERVICE GIVE US A TRY Call Kim Haryott at