(How often do you get to say that?) It involves the dealer Richard Feigen. He sold a painting in 2004 for $2.5 million and paid sales taxes of $215,000 to the NY authorities in 2005. In 2011, it emerged that the painting was one of the Beltracchi forgeries. Feigen refunded the purchase price to the buyer and applied for a refund of the sales tax. The ruling of the New York Division of Tax Appeals: too late. The statute of limitations for sales tax refunds is three years from filing or two years from payment, and in either case it had long expired. The decision is here. The NYLJ has a story here. Feigen vows to appeal.
UPDATE: The NYT's Patricia Cohen tweets: "These sorts of shortsighted rulings are unfair on their face and discourage dealers and sellers from doing the right thing."
