PG Calc Featured Articles

Life income donors have a variety of charitable gift vehicles to choose from: Pooled Income Funds, Charitable Remainder Unitrusts, Gift Annuities, and Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts. Each vehicle has its own special rules for funding, permissible terms, taxation, and management. Nonetheless, life income gifts can be divided into two primary categories. First are life income gifts that pay income that varies from year to year depending on the vehicle’s investment performance. Second are life income gifts whose payments are fixed and do not fluctuate regardless of how the gift vehicle is invested and stock market conditions.

U.S. equity markets were volatile in 2018, with abrupt and substantial fluctuations both up and down. There are conflicting data that investors must reconcile. On the one hand, unemployment is at historic lows and economic growth and corporate earnings support investor confidence. On the other hand, increases in interest rates suggest the possibility of resurgent inflation, while continued uncertainty around trade policy and strained relations with some of America’s closest allies raise concerns for all investors. The Dow plunged 1,883 points in the six days before December 24 and the S&P 500 was off 20% from its high in September. Equities then rallied at the end of December and the beginning of 2019. There are indications that markets have now calmed, at least for the moment.

There are different factors that determine when a gift has been completed. But why does it matter, since in most cases it’s just the matter of a few days? That day can make a difference at any point in the year, by changing what discount rate is used for calculating the deduction or in determining the amount of a pro-rated first gift annuity payment. However, it is particularly significant– to many of your donors – at year-end, as it affects when they can take their charitable deduction. A day late, a gift made on January 1st rather than December 31st, and the deduction is “lost” for a year.

Everyone needs to go to the doctor for a checkup now and again. The same can be said for a gift annuity program. Without the benefit of routine assessments, some programs will encounter problems or fail when an early diagnosis could have saved them.

The income tax charitable deduction reduces a taxpayer’s reportable income. It does not reduce the income tax due on a dollar-for-dollar basis. For example, consider a taxpayer with a marginal income tax rate of 24%. If the taxpayer makes a charitable gift of $10,000 that is fully deductible, the income tax savings is not $10,000. Instead, the donor’s reportable income is reduced by $10,000, with tax savings in this case being 24% of $10,000, or $2,400.

PG Calc’s March Featured Article discussed the practical challenges of making a charity the beneficiary of an IRA and other qualified plans upon the donor’s death. The process of completing the beneficiary designation form is complicated and bureaucratic.  And then there's the matter of collecting the proceeds after the donor's death.

Most gift planning professionals have heard of charitable lead trusts (CLTs), where the charitable beneficiary receives payments, typically for a term of years, and the remainder is distributed to one or more non-charitable beneficiaries at the end of the term. Historically, these trusts have been used – or at least contemplated – by donors whose wealth exposes them potentially to paying gift or estate tax. This type of lead trust is called a non-grantor charitable lead trust. At the end of the term, the assets remaining in the trust are distributed to persons other than the donor (grantor), and most typically, to members of the donor’s family.

I’ll tell you what’s up. The IRS discount rate, the interest rate used in computing the deduction for gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts, retained life estates, and charitable lead trusts. It’s edged upward a full percent in the last 6 months, and it appears likely to continue that trend for the rest of 2018 as the Federal Reserve continues to gradually raise interest rates.

Charities market beneficiary designations of 401(k)s, IRAs and other qualified plans as an easy, low-cost way to make a tax-wise planned gift. This is true for the most part. The details of completing a beneficiary designation can be more challenging than they appear, however. There are pitfalls and potential mistakes that can result in a failed beneficiary designation and no gift to charity.

The new tax law, which went into effect January 1st, has prompted a lot of discussion about the impact it will have on charitable giving. Of course, there’s no way to fully predict how donors will react to the changes in deductions (standard and itemized) and reduced tax brackets. But somewhat lost in the conversation has been the wide variety of other benefits that lead donors to make a charitable gift in a particular way.