Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust

Publication 1457 is a book of federal tables used to compute charitable remainder annuity trust and gift annuity deductions and pooled income fund deductions. The edition that contains tables based on Table2000CM is called Actuarial Values, Book 3A. It is available on the Web. The edition that contains tables based on Table 90CM is called Actuarial Values, Book Aleph. The edition that contains tables based on Table 80CNSMT is called Actuarial Values, Book Alpha.

A charitable remainder annuity trust ("annuity trust") is a gift plan defined by federal tax law that allows a donor to provide income to herself and/or others while making a generous gift to charity. The income may continue for the lifetimes of the beneficiaries, a fixed term of not more than 20 years, or a combination of the two.

We hear regularly from puzzled clients who want to understand why a charitable remainder annuity trust (CRAT) they have just calculated fails to qualify as a CRAT, but a charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT) with the same payout rate doesn't also fail.

For gift planning offices at most not-for-profit organizations (NFPs), FASB accounting is the last thing on the list. Activities are geared towards bringing in new planned gifts, ongoing administration, and donor stewardship. The financial office asks for a FASB liability report once a year (at a few NFPs, once a quarter). Someone in the gift planning office runs off a new report using similar assumptions to the previous year. If there is an outside gift administrator, they can be asked to produce the report.