Owners of individual retirement accounts who are at least age 70 1/2 can contribute some or all of their IRAs directly to charity. The motivation to do so is that it can be advantageous from a tax perspective in some cases. If you have a traditional IRA, you must begin taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) […]
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 – A Brief Review
Congress passed the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” last week. The President signed the legislation on Friday, December 22, 2017. The legislation can be found on the House Ways and Means website. Here is a brief review of the changes that will affect individual taxpayers: Income Tax Rates There will be seven income tax brackets: […]
Can I use my IRA to donate to a charity?
At Springwater, we have clients who are over the age of 70, who have individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and who do not need additional income. However, the government requires those over 70 (technically 70 1/2) to take distributions from their IRAs regardless of whether they need or want the money. For those who have a […]
What is a Donor Advised Fund?
A few weeks ago, our Stream blog highlighted how you can give to charity by donating your appreciated investments. As the donor, you receive an income tax deduction for the fair market value of the securities. The charity receives your donated investments, sells them, pays no taxes and uses the proceeds to support its cause. Today we’re […]
Donating Investments to Charity
Many of our clients give to charity and they do so in a variety of ways. They give cash contributions, their time and energy (e.g. at the local library), their professional services (e.g. on a board of directors), their old vehicles (OPB loves to receive them), their physical labor (e.g. hiking trail maintenance), clothing they no […]
Should you have a trust?
Forbes magazine recently featured a column addressing the question of whether most Americans should have a revocable living trust as part of their overall estate plan. In the author’s view, many estate planning attorneys suggest that everyone should have a trust, while most Americans don’t even have a simple will. Since there is an investment […]
Avoiding tax mistakes with year-end charitable giving
The Wall Street Journal recently published a feature section on avoiding potential traps and pitfalls with your year-end charitable giving. You can read the entire December 16, 2013 article here.