Sen Harry Reid Forwards Appraisal Letter

Fellow appraiser Maureen Heenan, ISA AM sent me some interesting appraisal related material from the Planned Giving Design Center.  I have posted information from the site in the past on the AW Blog, but what Maureen sent me was very interesting.

An appraiser sent a letter to Senate majority lead Harry Reid of Nevada about expanding the rules for qualified appraisers and appraisals into estate appraisals.  The letter states with the current review of estate tax legislation, an addition to include qualified appraiser and appraisal requirement would make much sense. The appraiser who wrote the letter states they are an ISA member. The current IRS code is  designed for charitable donations and not for estate tax.  Reid forwarded the letter to Michael Mundaca, the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy and requested a response to the constituent and copy to the Senator.

The Planned Giving Design Center website states

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has forwarded to Treasury for review correspondence sent to him by a constituent. The constituent, who is a Certified Personal Property Appraiser, recommends that appraisers and appraisals of personal property for federal estate tax purposes meet the same "qualified" appraiser and appraisal requirements applicable to charitable contributions and that any future estate tax reform proposals include such provisions.
[Planned Giving Design Center]

Full Text:

July 12, 2010

The Honorable Michael Mundaca
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy
U.S. Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20220

Dear Assistant Secretary Mundaca:

Enclosed is a letter from my constituent, * * *, regarding valuations used for estate tax purposes. I would appreciate your reviewing the matter and responding to my constituent's concerns. Please reply to * * * directly and send a copy of your response to me.

Thank you for your cooperation and assistance.

Sincerely,

Harry Reid
United States Senator
Nevada

To read the letter from the appraiser to Senator Reid on the Planned Giving Design Center website, click HERE.  Although a small matter like this given Senators position as majority leader and current re-election campaign there may not be much follow through, but I will try to see if there is a response from the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, and if so post the response on the AW Blog.

(If the sender of the letter is a reader of the AW Blog, please let me know and keep me updated on any response.)