rmds

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!

IRA Rollover Update: Special Rule for RMDs taken after 11/30/12!!

Thank you readers who brought to my attention something new about the Fiscal Cliff version of the Charitable IRA provision!

After being alerted and reading the Fiscal Cliff legislation more closely, we found that Congress decided this time to offer relief for donors who wanted to use the Charitable IRA provision in lieu of their Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs).

 This new rule, which was not part of previous reenactments of the IRA giving law, applies as follows:

  • Donors who took their RMDs after 11/30/12 to themselves;
  • And, would rather have gifted those funds to charity (and not be taxed on their RMDs);
  • May make contributions to qualified charities in the same amount as their RMDs (taken in December) by 2/1/13; and
  • Not have to pay income tax on those 2012 RMDs (only ones taken in December)!

Obviously, your donor does not get a 2013 charitable deduction but this is a very important opportunity for those donors who were waiting (as we suggested) to take their RMDs late in the year (in case the IRA giving law was reenacted).

 What Can Fundraisers Do About This Special Provision?

Any donors who you know or suspect were waiting for the IRA rollover to pass, and may have waited until December to take their RMDs, should receive a phone call, email, letter or visit from you asap.

This is a great opportunity for tax savings and a potential gift for your organization for up to $100,000.

Clarity on 2010 IRA/RMD situations

I had such a great question emailed to me right after the Tax Relief Act passed:

Could someone who had already withdrawn their 2010 RMD (Require Minimum Distribution from their IRAs) undo it in favor a IRA charitable rollover gift?

They did give people until Jan. 31, 2011 to make their IRA charitable gifts to count for 2010 RMDs?  You would think that since the law passed with basically 10 work  days or so to react for 2010 that they might have included a mechanism for undoing 2010 RMDs to make IRA charitable gifts.  Or, maybe they would realized the futility of giving people an extra 31 days in 2011 when most had already taken their 2010 RMDs and just created an exception after the fact.

Well, the answer is officially NO.  Check out this post on PGDC:

http://www.pgdc.com/pgdc/no-ira-recontributions-irs-says?gid=941996