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Citations and Declarations for the Donation Appraisal

(by Dave Maloney) The requirements for including citations or declarations in any personal property appraisal report normally originate from such sources as USPAP, the IRS, a law or regulation, a societal mandate, or, albeit it rarely, even the client. But given the plethora of applicable IRS regulations, rules, publications and forms, it is often in the donation appraisal report that we find the appraiser demonstrating the greatest of originality in the design of sometimes rather elaborate (and unnecessary?) citations and declarations.

Understanding which IRS regulations, forms, publications, notices, or revenue procedures are required to be cited in a donation appraisal report and which appraiser declarations are mandated for a donation appraisal report can be a challenge—particularly at this point in time during which we are operating under temporary IRS “Guidance” as we await final approval of new Treasury Regulations. The new Regulations will contain changes affecting the appraiser that were generated by the passing of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 and the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Continue reading “Citations and Declarations for the Donation Appraisal” →

Tables & Headers/Footers: Making Your Appraisal Report Look Professional

(by David Maloney) As a personal property appraisal course writer and instructor since 1994, I’ve reviewed many appraisals submitted by my students. Non-students also often ask me to review their appraisals for completeness or for USPAP compliance. Other than a couple appraisers who prepare their reports in MS-Excel, most all appraisals I have reviewed are prepared in MS-Word. (This article focuses on the Windows user. Similar features, of course, are available to the MAC user.)

Over the years I’ve often noticed a couple report shortcomings that occur on a consistent basis – specifically, these shortcomings include the failure of the appraiser to make use of MS-Word’s “Table” feature and MS-Word’s “Header/Footer” feature.

It is for good reason that appraisers using Windows most often use MS-Word to prepare their reports. MS-Word contains numerous features which, if used, will result in a report that is not only well-designed but also professional in appearance. But, as noted, two of the most important but most frequently under-utilized features of MS-Word are the Table feature and the Header/Footer feature.

Continue reading “Use Tables and Headers/Footers” →