Making Charitable Distributions from IRAs
Charitable distributions from an IRA provide a tax benefit for eligible senior citizens, but the rules can be tricky.
Any individual who it at least 70.5 years of age can make direct charitable gifts from his or her IRA. Gifts are capped at $100,000 and must be made to qualified public charities. It is important to note that the client does not receive a charitable deduction. Rather, the tax benefit is that the client is not paying income tax on the money distributed.
Practitioners should make sure that the distribution is made directly from the IRA’s administrator or trustee to the qualified charity. Remember that even though Donor Advised Funds are public charities, they don’t qualify as recipients for these distributions. And, the donor must receive NO benefit (not even a chicken dinner) or the entire distribution will be taxable.
To learn more, read Conrad Teitell’s September 25, 2017 article, “Tax-Free Direct Charitable/IRA Distributions” here.
Post by: Jillian Mastroianni