In early January, the Planned Giving Design Center received a press release from a Florida financial advisor announcing he had obtained a U.S. patent on the use of tax deferred variable annuities within pre-need funeral contracts, endowment funds (including donor advised funds), charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, and pooled income funds. In the wake of AICPA's call for legislation against tax strategy patents, we ask the question: Are investment patents of this type good for planned giving? We invite your comments and opinion.  MORE »

In this article from Leimberg Information Services, New York attorney Conrad Teitell is ringing an alarm bell about a major charitable deduction benefit that may be lost thanks to a few greedy tax promoters, donors, and complicit charities who are conspiring to grossly inflate the value of charitable gifts, conceal key elements from the IRS, and avoid the Form 8282 "tattletale" rule.  MORE »

Writing for the Private Art Dealers Association, Robert Dance has suggested that experience be considered for purposes of meeting the "qualified appraiser" requirements under appraisal compliance guidance, noting that an educational requirement might disqualify some of the foremost experts on the market for works in their fields.  MORE »

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has announced that its Chairman, Barron Hilton, is building on the philanthropic legacy of his father by contributing approximately $1.2 billion of proceeds from the sale of Hilton Hotels Corporation and the pending sale of Harrah's Entertainment into a charitable remainder unitrust that will eventually benefit the foundation. Barron Hilton further indicated he plans to ultimately donate 97% of his entire net worth to the foundation on a testamentary basis.  MORE »

Can an IRA be used to help indirectly finance life insurance owned by a charity? In this article, Steve Leimberg reviews and comments on recently published Ltr. Rul. 200741016 in which the Service concluded the arrangement is not a prohibited investment in insurance within the meaning of section 408(a)(3) of the Code such that the IRA would cease to be an IRA under section 408(a)(3).  MORE »

Despite the old adage warning against discussing politics in polite company, we just couldn't resist the partisan throw-down that happened between Sen. Harry Reid and radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh during the past few weeks that resulted in a $4,200,200 gift to charity via an eBay auction. We were curious how the gift was structured and thought you might be as well.  MORE »

In addition to the complex set of Federal income, gift, and estate tax rules that confront the creation, funding, and administration of charitable remainder trusts, a number of states have specific requirements. For example, New York assesses a transfer tax on the sale of real property, a CRT is not exempt from this transfer tax. Pennsylvania and New Jersey do not recognize a CRT as an exempt trust. California assesses a transfer tax on the sale of real property, but does exempt CRTs. And Illinois and Oregon require the registration of a CRT with the state Attorney General's office.  MORE »

The Michigan Appeals Court has affirmed the decision of a lower court in Smallegan v. Kooistra in which it held that a donor's attorney did not commit malpractice because he did not ensure the donor had acquired wealth replacement life insurance prior to the funding of a charitable remainder trust.  MORE »

When the late New York billionaire hotelier Leona Helmsley's will was made public in Westchester Surrogates Court last week, most of the attention of the press fell on the $12 million Helmsley left in trust for the benefit of her canine companion, Trouble. For charitable gift planners, however, the philanthropic components of her will also made for some interesting reading.  MORE »

According to the National Committee on Planned Giving, the latest results collected from the NCPG IRA Gifts Survey have reached the $100 million mark. More precisely, the latest survey results show 5,814 individual distributions with a total value of more than $102 million. NCPG is encouraging members to contact their members of Congress to persuade them to support the Public Good IRA Rollover Act which would expand tax-free distributions from individual retirement accounts for charitable purposes. A sample letter can be found on NCPG's website along with an invitation to take the survey and review a detailed analysis of the results so far.  MORE »