
The IRA giving provision is on the books again! Hooray!
Now what?
It is December 21st. Friday is Christmas (that rules out Thursday, too, and even this entire week for many). New Year’s Eve is the following Thursday. So, we have 6.5 business days, give or take, to do something this year about it.
Some of my colleagues have had a mailing ready to go that maybe, just maybe went in the mail today. Problem with this strategy is that the mail is really slow this time of year – trust me, I am waiting for a check from a client 20 miles from my home that went out on Wednesday last week and I am still waiting! Anyway, your donor needs to somehow get the IRA plan administrator to disburse the funds in 2015 to count for 2015 (no big deal if it misses). No, in my mind, an attempt at a mailing doesn’t make sense.
What about an email blast? Yes, go for it! Big headline: IRA Giving Provision Reinstated! Big message: Contact your IRA plan administrator about taking advantage of this year-end giving option for a tax-free gift from your IRA to ______ charity. Bullet points: If you are age 70 1/2 or older; You can gift up to $100,000 from your IRA with no taxable income; Call us now for more information or contact your IRA plan administrator to find out how to take advantage of this law before December 31th.
Even better, get on the phone or personalized emails! You should be calling anyone who not only had a recent interest in IRA giving, but anyone who ever used the provision in the past! Talking points: did you know that Congress just passed the law the allows you to make direct gifts to us from your IRA with no tax consequence? If you haven’t taken your 2015 RMDs yet, an IRA rollover gift counts towards your RMD.
Beyond this year? The law is now permanent! Like I said – hooray! Why am I so excited? It just happens that the oldest baby-boomers (those born in 1946) will start turning 70.5 this year! Oh, and did you know that for boomers, IRAs are the biggest asset class among their financial investments, by far? Will share that data another time – just realize that IRAs for boomers are big and now boomers will start being eligible to make gifts from their IRA to cover their RMDs, for annual giving, for special or major gifts.
Don’t forget that a donor needs to have actually reached his/her 70.5 birthday before pulling the trigger on this. The IRS, in their accountant’s way of viewing the world, actually count your half-birthday as the day you actually turn the next age. Yep, if you are than 50% through the year since your last birthday, you can start telling everyone that according to the IRS, you are already a year older’).
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