Are you 70.5 years or older?
At the last meeting of the Memorial & Endowment Committee, it was suggested that every monthly newsletter should include information about church finances and its relation to individual members.
The new Federal Pension Act of 2006 was just signed on August 8, 2006 and provisions are available for new deductions, which are allowable on your 2006 1040 tax form.
Charitable IRA Distributions
Up until the end of 2007, if you are charitably inclined and wish to give some of your IRA funds to a charity, you can withdraw up to $100,000.00 from your IRA tax-free and give it to a charity. You do not receive a tax deduction but you also do not need to report the withdrawal as income. A tax infested IRA is the best asset you can give to charity. This new provision allowing Qualified Charitable Distributions only applies to IRA owners age 70 ½ and older and only applies to outright IRA gifts to charities and not to grant making foundations, donor advised funds or charitable gift annuities. Better move fast as this one provision of this Act expires after 2007.
The big incentive here is that the charitable donation from your IRA will satisfy your required minimum distribution (RMD). You won’t have to pay tax on the amount of your required distribution that you give to charity. This can lower your income and may even cut down the tax you pay on Social Security Income, not to mention the loss of tax deductions, exemption and tax credits that are lost when your income is increased. So if you normally make donations anyway, you should make those donations from your IRA and reduce your income.
This provision is especially good for those of you who do not itemize your deductions (you take a standard deduction) and would not normally be able to deduct gifts to charity. By not having to report the income from the IRA distribution, you effectively receive a deduction that you would not otherwise have been available to you. Under this provision, the donation must be made directly from your IRA to a charity without you or anyone else touching the money in between.
Memorial & Endowment, Winfield H. Hughes, C.P.A.
