DID YOU KNOW? THE LATEST ON RULES FOR GIFTS TO CHARITIES — IRA ACCOUNTS

There is a popular IRA charitable rollover provision which in the past covered donations of up to $100,000 by people ages 701/2 and older. Congress is likely to extent the expired rule as it has on multiple occasions, but not before the November 2014 election. One advantage of making gifts directly from the IRA to charity has been that it lowers the taxpayer’s adjusted gross income, which can help to lower the new Medicaid tax passed on as part of “Obama Care.” If the rule is continued, then one would want to make gifts directly from the retirement account as the gift is not considered a withdrawal and therefore does not get reported on your tax return. If Congress does not extend the expired rule, then you would have a taxable IRA distribution, but also a deductible charitable gift to report on your 2014 return. In the second method; however, you save nothing on lowered Medicare Obama Care taxes.

Source: Wall Street Journal October 14, 2014