Crypto and CRTs: Buried treasure, or hidden pitfalls?
“For federal tax purposes, virtual currency is treated as property. General tax principles applicable to property transactions apply to transactions using virtual currency.”
Winds of change and headwinds: Legislation and inflation
You’ve no doubt noticed that donor-advised funds have been featured more prominently over the last few weeks in financial and wealth management publications. That’s in part because the Accelerating Charitable Efforts Act was reintroduced in the House of Representatives on February 3, 2022.
When giving hard-to-value assets, creativity–and caution–are critical in the digital age
For some of your clients, the thought of giving artwork to a museum or other charity might have crossed their minds. Otherwise, in the estate plan you’ll build for the art collector, the choices largely boil down either to selling the pieces, or giving them to family and loved ones during life or through a bequest.
Big gifts are getting bigger. How does that change your conversations with your clients?
Ranging from $175 million to a whopping $15 billion, the 10 largest gifts to charity in 2021 may have caught your clients’ attention. Not only do philanthropic gifts seem to keep getting bigger, but the future looks bright, too, with more than $84 trillion projected to be handed down in what may be one of the largest intergenerational transfers of wealth in history.
So, what happened to tax reform? And what does that mean for charitable giving strategies?
Last year’s heavily-debated versions of the Build Back Better Act called for tax increases that potentially could have impacted charitable giving.
Giving hard-to-value assets: It’s not just for real estate anymore
You are no doubt familiar with the many benefits of giving hard-to-value assets to a charity–and especially to a client’s donor-advised fund at YouthBridge Community Foundation. Because YouthBridge is a public charity, your client is eligible for the maximum allowable tax deduction for their contributions.
Philanthropy and the family business: Ripe for great questions
More than half of the country’s GDP is generated by the 5.5 million family-owned businesses in the United States. Profits aren’t the only priority for most family businesses; indeed, the vast majority of family business owners report that other factors, such as culture, community, charity, and values, are also important to the business.
Transfer of wealth: Following the money
“The greatest wealth transfer in modern history has begun,” according to a mid-2021 report in the Wall Street Journal. And, with tax reform’s big bite into estate values off the table, at least for now, many of your older clients may be thinking seriously about their legacies.
And (not so) suddenly, it’s a thing: What’s up with donor-advised funds?
For nearly 90 years, charitably-minded individuals and families have established donor-advised funds to help carry out their philanthropic wishes. Popularity of the donor-advised fund steadily grew, especially beginning in the 1990s, eventually resulting in official recognition in the Internal Revenue Code under 2006 tax law updates. Today, over one million donor-advised fund accounts hold nearly $160 billion in charitable assets, according to the latest numbers.
Helping families stay connected across the miles and generations: There’s a gift for that!
Your philanthropic clients will thank you for suggesting they consider giving the gift of giving (say that three times fast!) in the form of a charitable fund instead of the more typical “I made a gift to my favorite charity in your honor.”
The ever-popular, handy-dandy, year-end charitable giving checklist
We’ve heard that many of you appreciate a quick checklist for charitable giving reminders each December. We know you receive this type of information from many sources, and frequently in great detail. It is our goal to break things down into a few simple points (below are three).
Year-end giving: Repeat, repeat, repeat
It’s the season for email newsletters hitting your inbox with tips for tax planning. We get it! With so much information flying around for your clients, too, we highly recommend that you cut through the noise and mention four key tax strategies to your clients at least twice, and ideally three times, before late December.
The buzzword is “billionaire”: How tax reform discussions have pulled complex charitable planning strategies into the spotlight
Forbes reports that the latest headcount of American billionaires checks in at 724. That number surprises some people, and for different reasons. Many are surprised to learn that the number is so low, when the word “billionaire” has been used so frequently lately in discussions about changes to the tax laws.
Relax a little (maybe?): What’s off the table, what’s still in play, and what your charitable clients need to know now about tax reform
Late last month, the White House released a proposed $1.75 trillion revenue package, putting to rest (at least for now) some of the uncertainty as to how sweeping tax reform could upend wealth planning strategies via changes to top marginal rates, a restructuring of the capital gains tax, and lower estate and gift tax exclusions, all of which have been heavily discussed and debated over the last several weeks. For now, those particular big changes appear to have been dropped.
Recent IRS actions illuminating charitable tax planning pitfalls
It requires a keen eye to spot unintended negative consequences of a well-meaning client’s charitable giving strategies! This fall, we suggest you take note of three cautionary tales…
Pending legislation that could impact charitable giving strategies
Even with a government shutdown averted (at least for now), there are still plenty of legislative loose ends that we’ll help you keep an eye on. Changes could directly or indirectly impact your clients’ overall charitable and estate plans.
Trends that inform what your clients are thinking even if they aren’t saying it
Hot off the press, the 2021 Bank of America Study of Philanthropy: Charitable Giving by Affluent Households confirms that wealthy families are as committed as ever to the nonprofit sector and community causes.
Proposed legislation: What’s in it for giving?
The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation’s report issued recently is already creating a buzz among attorneys, accountants, and financial advisors who provide charitable planning advice to their clients. Here are four considerations as you navigate the weeks ahead and prepare for the possibility that the … More →
These three factors are a big deal in gifts of S Corp stock to charity
S Corporation, or limited liability company? That’s a question many family businesses grapple with in their formative stages.
Five pointers for gifts of life insurance to charities
“Incidents of ownership” are three powerful words in estate planning where life insurance is concerned.