In 1970, Christie's was the first auction house to recognise the importance of offering tax related advice to clients and their professional advisers, to provide assistance and guidance through the increasingly complex tax and reporting regulations which affect heritage assets.

For over 50 years, the department has built up extensive and unrivalled experience, helping numerous Christie's clients with transactions that have resulted in over 10,000 chattels of pre-eminent national interest or associated with buildings of outstanding historical or public interest, being acquired by public museums, galleries or institutions, through the Acceptance in Lieu scheme or via private treaty sales.

For more information please see Recent Success Stories. 

The department works with specialists across disciplines and recent offers in lieu which have been negotiated by Christie’s Heritage & Taxation Advisory Service include The Archive and Office from the Estate of the late Stephen Hawking which has been allocated to Cambridge University Library and the Science Museum; and L’écuyère by Marc Chagall which has been allocated to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

The department also has considerable experience in advising on the deferral and mitigation of tax charges arising on death or otherwise on important chattels of pre-eminent quality and also on land and buildings of particular architectural, historic, scientific, scenic interest.

For more information, please contact the Heritage and Taxation department.

Related Services

Estates, Appraisals & Valuations

Hero images (from left to right):
English School
The ‘Armada Portrait’ 
Sold via Private Treaty Sale to the National Maritime Museum

Stephen Hawking (1942-2018)
Autograph manuscript, ‘The Event Horizon’, [1972]
Accepted in lieu of tax; Archive permanently allocated to Cambridge University Library, office permanently allocated to the Science Museum
Total tax settled £4,200,000

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
L’écuyère
Accepted in lieu of tax, permanently allocated to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Tax settled £490,000