Thank you for being a PG Calc client. If you’re wondering what we’ve done for you lately, check out this list of enhancments that went into PGM 6.2, released in June 2009.

Be sure to contact Client Services by email or by phone (888-474-2252) to discuss what you’d like to see in our next version of PGM. We’re always looking ahead.

Handling of additional property types
The PGM suite (Planned Giving Manager, Mini Manager, and Gift Annuity Manager) had always performed calculations for gifts of cash and gifts of long-term appreciated property -- by far the most common forms of gift asset - but not for other types of property.  In 6.2, we added the ability to perform calculations for short-term capital gain property, ordinary income property, and capital loss property.  For example, you are now able to compute deductions and gift annuity taxation schedules for all these property types.  PGM's narratives such as Description and/or Example also take property type into account.

“Optimizer” functions
PGM 6.2 included “optimizer” features for five gift plans.  With a click of your mouse, you can tell PGM 6.2 to do any of the following calculations:

• Determine the maximum charitable remainder annuity trust payout rate that still passes the 10% remainder value and 5% probability tests.
• Determine the maximum charitable remainder unitrust payout rate that still passes the 10% remainder value test.
• Determine the bargain sale price at which the donor's income tax savings exactly offsets the capital gains tax the donor will owe on the sale.
• Determine the charitable lead annuity trust payout rate that earns a specific charitable deduction percentage, such as 100%.
• Determine the amount to sell in a Sell Part and Give Part model such that the donor's income tax savings from the gift exactly offsets the capital gains tax the donor will owe on the sale. (PGM only)

“Tools” functions
We added seven new functions under the Tools menu to help you perform a variety of helpful calculations.

• Life Expectancy - compute the joint life expectancy for one to ten lives using your choice of six mortality tables, including the gender-specific Annuity 2000 table and the new 2000CM table.
• Present Value of Future Bequest - compute the present value of a bequest intention using your choice of six mortality tables and one or two lives.
• Deduction for Gift Annuity Termination - compute the deduction available to a deceased annuitant’s estate for the unrecovered investment in contract or to an annuitant who voluntarily reassigns his or her annuity to your charity.
• Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Gift Tax, Estate Tax - use these four tools to compute each of these respective types of tax.
• Blended Federal and State Tax Rates - compute a donor’s blended income tax rate, given applicable federal and state income tax rates.
• Blended Investment Assumptions - compute the blended income and capital appreciation rates of a mixed portfolio of stock, bonds, and cash that each carry their own investment assumptions.  Apply the blended results to your current projection cases with a single click.

For all of these Tools functions, as well as those that were available in prior versions, we added the ability to view and print a report of your entries and the results.  This reporting feature may be especially useful with the Present Value of Future Bequest and Deduction for Gift Annuity Termination functions.

Diagram enhancements
We enhanced PGM's diagrams in two important ways.

• You can now replace our standard diagram icon labels, such as “Donor” and “Family,” with your own label text, such as “Mr. Smith” and “Gary, Bill, and Allison.”
• We added a Summary of Benefits – Numbers diagram to Basic Gift Illustrations.  As a result, you now can produce both How It Works and Numbers diagrams, along with Summary of Benefits, Taxation of Gift Annuity Payments, and all other Basic Gift Illustration presentations, at the same time.

Miscellaneous additional enhancements
We made a host of additional improvements to the PGM suite.  These improvements include:

• You can compute the deductible value of an income interest in an annuity trust or net income unitrust, even when the payout rate you must use is outside the ordinary 5% and 50% limits.
• You can model a testamentary gift annuity funded with retirement plan or other IRD assets.
• Only birth dates with two-digit years are interpreted as 20th Century dates.  All other dates, such as dates of gift, that contain two digit years are now interpreted as 21st Century dates.
• You can enter a cost basis of less than $100 without converting it to a percentage.  To enter a percentage cost basis, just add “%” to the end, such as “50%”.
• It is easier to have PGM combine a gift annuity’s first partial payment with its first regular payment.  Also, in all cases the combined payment now exactly equals the sum of the two payments when they are computed separately.

This is just a partial list.  Other enhancements included gift annuity agreements updated to meet the latest state requirements, the option to include information on reinsurance in gift annuity disclosure statements, and expanded Online Help.