Billionaire's $40 million Ferrari purchase could yield $13 million tax rebate

At a recent Sotheby’s auction benefiting the Ferrari Foundation, 87-year-old Herbert A. Wertheim paid $40 million for a pre-production Ferrari Luce, a price far exceeding the model’s $1.1 million presale estimate. Under current IRS rules, he must subtract the estimated sale value from the purchase price, apply a 0.5 % floor on his $200 million adjusted gross income, and then the 35 % limit on itemized charitable deductions introduced by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

This calculation leaves a deductible base of $35.85 million, of which 37 % can be claimed, potentially returning more than $13 million to Wertheim. The deal follows his earlier $26 million purchase of a Ferrari Daytona SP3 and a $2 million payment for a private White House visit with Donald Trump. Experts note that recent reductions in charitable-tax incentives could curb large-scale giving, shifting more pressure onto middle-class donors. Ferrari, despite early criticism of its EV, recently surpassed its short-term sales target of 500 units.