If you are 70½ years old or older, you can take advantage of a simple way to support FWCC and reduce your taxable income at the same time, even if you don’t itemize your deductions on your tax return.
At the end of 2015, legislation was enacted making the “IRA Charitable Rollover” a permanent gift option. With this strategy you can give to FWCC or other qualified charities directly from your IRA without having to pay income tax on the distribution. This is especially important now that the standard deduction has doubled, since many older taxpayers will no longer benefit from itemizing their deductions, including charitable contributions.
If you have not taken your required minimum distribution for the year, an IRA charitable rollover gift can satisfy all or part of that requirement. You can designate the distribution to one organization or split it between several, and these transfers generate neither taxable income nor a tax deduction, so you realize a tax benefit even if you are using the standard deduction.
One catch: to make an IRA charitable rollover gift you must be at least 70 ½, and you must arrange with your IRA custodian or financial institution to make the gift directly to FWCC or another charity—you cannot first take the distribution from your IRA and then distribute the proceeds yourself. If you are interested in knowing more and/or would like to take advantage of this strategy for giving to FWCC, please contact Robin Mohr at robinm@fwccamericas.org to discuss the simple steps involved.