Writing for The Chronicle on Philanthropy, Holly Hall reports, "Fund raisers who solicit large gifts need to become knowledgeable about the charitable aspects of a law that allows people to covert their regular individual retirement accounts into Roth IRAs this year, says Robert F. Sharpe, a Memphis planned-giving consultant."  MORE »

It just got more dangerous to use income in respect of a decedent for charitable bequests. In this article from the January 2009 issue of Trusts & Estates magazine, UMKC law professor Christopher Hoyt examines how a recent IRS Chief Counsel Memorandum and new proposed regulation will require new strategies to enable donors to successfully pay a charitable bequest with IRD.
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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 »

Congress enacted legislation that permits donors over age 70½ to make lifetime charitable gifts from their IRAs in 2006 and 2007 without having to recognize the payments as taxable income. How successful has this legislation been? Which taxpayers receive the greatest benefits and what are the legal requirements? Will the law be extended to 2008 and future years? This session will identify the donors who should use the law this year, and will identify optimal strategies for communicating with both donors and IRA administrators to successfully implement these gifts.

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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 »

According to an article published by InvestmentNews.com, IRA investors have taken advantage of provisions contained in the Pension Protection Act of 2006 to donate at least $75 million to charity. In an interview with the National Committee on Planned Giving, "The committee said that 4,193 IRA gifts had been reported as of June 4 with an average value of $17,917."  MORE »

In a legal memorandum published earlier this week, the IRS concluded that a partial transfer of a decedent's IRA to charities in satisfaction of a pecuniary bequest via the decedent's trust results in gross income to the estate and fails to qualify for an offsetting charitable deduction. Writing for Leimberg Information Services, UMKC law professor Christopher R. Hoyt takes issue with the IRS's position arguing it could result in double income taxation.  MORE »

This session is of vital interest both to development professionals and for-profit advisors. It will cover the growing importance of retirement plan assets, due in part to legal changes allowing greater plan contributions and longer tax-deferred growth; the income and estate taxation of retirement plan assets and the relative advantages of outright and split-interest charitable gifts of these assets, during life and at death; considerations in choosing among plan types; techniques for outright gifts and gifts funding Charitable Remainder Trusts; lifetime gifts of retirement assets, including charitable rollover legislation; who benefits most from IRA rollover; and challenges faced by IRA administrators in facilitating rollover gifts.  MORE »

This session is of vital interest both to development professionals and for-profit advisors. It will cover the growing importance of retirement plan assets, due in part to legal changes allowing greater plan contributions and longer tax-deferred growth; the income and estate taxation of retirement plan assets and the relative advantages of outright and split-interest charitable gifts of these assets, during life and at death; considerations in choosing among plan types; techniques for outright gifts and gifts funding Charitable Remainder Trusts; lifetime gifts of retirement assets, including charitable rollover legislation; who benefits most from IRA rollover; and challenges faced by IRA administrators in facilitating rollover gifts.

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On Thursday, August 17th, President Bush is scheduled to sign the Pension Protection Act of 2006 that includes a long-awaited provision that will permit taxpayers to make direct charitable transfers from their Individual Retirement Accounts. In this article, PGDC Editor Marc D. Hoffman reviews the new rules and how donors, charities, and IRA administrators might respond.  MORE »