Two recent cases involving charitable deductions should remind tax practitioners to take a critical look at how will and trust provisions affecting charities may play out under varying scenarios. In this edition of Gift Planner's Digest, Burgess J.W. Raby, Esq. and William L. Raby, PhD, CPA review this cases and the question of how well the natural persons the instrument provides for will fare.  MORE »

The Service has ruled privately that a proposed reformation of a trust into a qualified charitable remainder trust will be a qualified reformation and entitle the estate to an estate tax charitable deduction for the remainder interest.   MORE »

The Service has ruled that a tax-exempt charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT) will not incur unrelated business income tax on dividends derived from debt-financed income passing from a limited liability company to the CRUT's subsidiary corporation.   MORE »

The Service has ruled privately that a charitable remainder unitrust will not realize unrelated business taxable income by being a limited partner in an entity that plans to organize a foreign corporation and distribute dividends to its limited partners.   MORE »

The Service has ruled privately that a couple who wanted to support a particular composer's work by donating funds to a tax- exempt organization engaged in sponsoring composers may treat the contribution as a charitable contribution.   MORE »

The IRS has announced (Notice 2003-1) that interim guidance on the tax treatment of employers' payments to charitable organizations under leave-based donation programs won't be extended to payments made after January 1, 2003. This notice modifies and supersedes Notice 2001-69, which provided that the IRS wouldn't treat the payments as gross income or wages to employees.   MORE »

Those who watch the Discovery Channel are no doubt familiar with "Shark Week". Perhaps this can be called "Integral Part Test Failure Week on the PGDC!" Hey, we know it's not as exciting as sharks but, after all, we are talking about the taxes. In this second ruling in as many weeks, the Tax Court has held that a testamentary charitable remainder trust that will hold the remainder interest and apply its net income for the benefit of selected charitable organizations does not qualify to be excepted from private foundation status under section 509(a)(3).   MORE »

The Tax Court has held that a nonprofit corporation intended to operate as a supporting organization is a private foundation because it failed to satisfy the integral-part test of reg. section 1.509(a)-4(i)(3).  MORE »

In response to a letter from Gregory Colvin of Silk, Adler & Colvin, San Francisco, the IRS discusses steps it is taking to help ensure the privacy of individuals whose contributions to tax-exempt organizations are reported on Schedule B of the Form 990 exempt organization information return.   MORE »

The IRS has concluded in Rev. Rul. 2002-67 that an individual's transfer of a car to a dealership that administers a charity's car donation program is a valid transfer and that the donor may use a used car pricing guide to determine its fair market value.  MORE »