VIA Mission Statement VIA empowers Canadians to save taxes through philanthropy by making landmark contributions to educational institutions while promoting arts and culture in Canada

Vintage Photo Collections Are Valuable Limited supply of vintage photos because of digital cameras Newspapers can’t afford to digitize large historic collections: it requires money and manpower Universities want photos as a visual record of history to study…they have resources to digitize News Photo groups sell the photos at a very low price knowing that the photos will be digitized and that they will retain the commercial rights of the photographs without the costs This program brings together all parties and allows the commercial value of the photos to be unlocked Everyone wins: taxpayer/university/original owner

Historical Precedence 1.3 Million was paid to purchase a portion of the Sovfoto collection and was held for 3 years by a famous BC millionaire: In 2001, Canada's Cultural Property Export Review board was asked to judge the valuation of the Sovfoto collection. Its ruling, $15,391,589, entitled the donor to related tax credits. This collection was donated to MacLaren University in Ontario. hp?838-Globe-on-MacLaren- Gallery-in-Barrie

Several years later.. The Black Star Photo collection: was purchased for Million also by the famous BC millionaire and held for 3 years. In 2005, the Cultural Property Export Review board ruled his Black Star archive had a valuation of $100-million. The Donor decided to donate the Black Star archive to Ryerson. Black Star is a historical black-and-white picture archive which contains some 291,049 black and white photographs that document world events and personalities from the 20th century. e_display.jsp?vnu_content_id= # e_display.jsp?vnu_content_id= #

VIA Simply Stated: One Participant Two Collections Four years apart

How it Works: Current Year A partial payment is made for DeLeon White photos which will be held for 3 years to obtain future significant tax benefits These photos are used as collateral to get a full recourse loan, along with a cash payment, to acquire Moos Collection photos The Moos photos are donated in the current year of acquisition for a large tax benefit The recipient organization issues receipt for the eligible amount of gift (adjusted cost base) Net rates of return for BC range from 141% in January to 53% in December

How it Works: Year 4 after a smaller additional payment to fully acquire the While collection, about one-third of the White Collection photos will be sold to pay off the loan from year 1 The remaining two thirds will be donated to a recipient organization who will issue tax receipts after CCPERB determines value of the cultural property Only CCPERB has right to determine what is cultural property and what the value is CRA is not able to question CCPEPRB decisions Rate of return exceeds year 1

Full recourse loans have specific requirements: Terms of 10 years Annual interest paid (VIA:5 years prepaid) Interest rate of 1% or greater (VIA: 1.23%) The loan is fully secured (VIA: against White Collection : 2/3 of the White collection is used as collateral…1/3 will be sold to pay off loan) Photos are monitored annually to ensure that their current FMV is enough to cover loan obligations

So, the question is….. Do You want to retrieve tax you have paid or currently owe?

There are 3 actions you can take: Action 1: Do the VIA Project Pros: Significant tax relief and net return Multi year tax planning There are special tax incentives for Canadian Cultural Property donations Proven historical precedence: A famous BC millionaire successfully donated vintage photographs in 2001 and 2005 Program is currently donating from the same photograph collection that the famous BC millionaire donated in 2001 CRA is not able to challenge Canadian Cultural Property designations and valuations Cons: no 100% certainty that CRA won’t find a creative way to reassess that doesn’t involve cultural property and valuations

Action 2: Don’t do the VIA Project Pros: 100% safe – no brown envelopes from CRA Cons: no tax relief CRA keeps your all money You can never get that money back How much is not seeing a brown envelope worth to you?

There is a 3rd Action: Absolutely minimize any risk by doing the program but not spending the money. Invest the refund received from participating in the VIA program into a safe place and leave it for 3 years. Delay spending your financial windfall as an insurance against CRA bully tactics.