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Q & A in Planned Giving Tomorrow – IRAs, RMDs, and QCDs – Familiar with these?

Image result for q & aRecently, I’ve starting submitting for the Q & A section in Planned Giving Tomorrow – Here’s my first submission….

QUESTION

We are looking at some RMD info related to Jane’s IRA account, and we are assuming that the school satisfies the QCD requirement, but just want to check.

ANSWER

Highly focused people (usually the successful ones) often miss the easy stuff in their focus on the bottom line: raising money now. The question above came to me via email from a top capital campaign consultant. He really knows his stuff. And yet, he had to ask me what RMD and QCD meant!

Do you know?

RMD is Required Minimum Distribution. That is an amount you are required (as an individual over age 70.5) to withdraw from your IRA and other qualified retirement accounts annually.

Why is this so important?

The IRA charitable rollover provision (which is, by the way, PERMANENT now if you hadn’t heard!) allows donors age 70.5 and older to give up to $100,000 to your charity directly from their IRAs. It doesn’t work for other retirement accounts—yet. It just so happens that the law allows donors to direct their RMDs (which would be fully taxable to them) to your charity without any taxes.  This assumes your charity is QCD eligible.

You know that one, right? QCD means Qualified Charitable Distributions. If you are a regular charity – not a Donor Advised Fund or a Supporting Organization—you are more than likely QDC eligible. In a nutshell, using the charitable rollover provision gives donors an opportunity to support a cause they care about and avoid taxes on their RMD! Donors in this age range get this. You should, too, as these can be easy $100,000 gifts. Even if your donor has already taken their RMDs (which you can’t un-take), using an IRA to make a gift to charity is still a great idea. Talk it up with your donors!

If you have interesting questions that you wouldn’t mind being published in this blog and/or in Planned Giving Tomorrow, email your Q’s to me at jonathan@plannedgivingadvisors.com.  And, check out Planned Giving Tomorrow by clicking here!

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT OUR SUMMER LINE-UP OF WEBINAR PROGRAMS!

Planned Giving in 2017?

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I refuse to jump to any conclusions regarding this year in planned giving (or any year!).

Will Congress/President somehow waterdown or eliminate the charitable deduction?

Possibly but it’s possible that the charitable deduction will be more valuable to your donors than ever before if they limit other deductions but not the charitable one.  (Treasury Secretary Mnuchin already said there will be no tampering with the charitable deduction contrary to Trump’s campaign “tax plan”)

Will there be anything new and exciting for fundraisers to bring to donors?

This doesn’t look like a great year for creative charitable legislation. Let’s see if they really “fix” Obamacare or the tax code.

But, there are a few things I can guarantee will happen: the oldest baby-boomers start turning age 71 this year, the age when required minimum distributions (RMDs) from IRAs and other qualified retirement accounts start.  There are a lot more boomers than their predecessors, with a lot more IRA funds – IRA charitable rollovers and beneficiary designations should be high on every fundraiser’s wish list.

Bottom line: Planned Giving is turning a corner, Boomers are finally and officially Planned Giving Prospects. Maybe it’s time you and/or your organization realized that it is “now or never” for the Boomers? Train up the staff, invest in the Planned Giving program.

Oh, and check out our 3-part Planned Giving Boot Camp for Major Gift Officers! Next sessions start March 15, 2017 – click here to see how affordable it is to train up to 15 staff members in planned giving!

Donors with second thoughts on using IRA charitable rollover after taking RMD already?

Great question came to me today.

An age 70.5+ supporter heard that he could have used the IRA charitable rollover to fulfill his RMD (required minimum distribution) requirement. Problem was that he already took his RMD withdrawal for 2011.

Any way to undo the RMD withdrawal and make an IRA charitable rollover gift instead?

Sadly, the answer seems to be no.  I posted on this topic earlier (http://theplannedgivingblog.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/clarity-on-2010-irarmd-situations/) in the year and nothing has changed.

There are rules about IRA rollovers that do allow individuals to redeposit funds back into an IRA (generally within 60 days of the withdrawal) but they seem to explicitly exclude the RMD portions of their withdrawals.

The lesson here is that promoting the IRA charitable rollover option early in the year was very important.  At this late juncture, it may be too late for donors to receive the full benefits of the law.  A good lesson for future re-enactments of the law, should it get reinstated at some point in the future.