Good News! The Charitable IRA Rollover is Back!

On January 2, 2013, the President signed into law the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. The legislation enables individual retirement account, or IRA, owners ages 70½ or older to directly transfer up to $100,000 per year, tax free, to charity.

The new law extends the charitable rollover for 2 years, starting retroactively from Janaury 1, 2012, and ending December 31, 2013. Because the new law is retroactive to January 1, 2012, it covers all charitable IRA rollover gifts previous made during 2012.

In addition, the new law has two special provisions that some individuals will find very helpful:

• Individuals who took IRA distribution (mandatory or otherwise) in December 2012 can make charitable cash contributions for all or part of those distributions (up to $100,000) and treat those gifts as if they had been direct distributions to charity from their IRA.
• IRA rollover gifts to charity completed by those over age 70½ before January 31, 2013, will be deemed to have been made in 2012.

You May Make a Charitable IRA Rollover Gift If:

• You are age 70½ on or before December 31, 2013
• You make your gift on or before December 31, 2013
• You transfer funds directly from a traditional IRA or Roth IRA, and your total of IRA gifts for a given tax year is $100,000 or less
• You transfer the gift outright—on or before year's end—to one or more public charities, but not to supporting organizations, donor advised funds, charitable trusts or gift annuities.

This provision only applies to gifts from IRAs and not from 401(k) plans or other tax-favored retirement planning vehicles.

How to Make a Charitable IRA Rollover Gift to Catholic Relief Services:

• First notify CRS of your plans. Contact Demicca Ross, Planned Giving Associate:
  E-mail: demicca.ross@crs.org
  Phone: 1-888-277-7575 (at the prompt, dial extension 7438).
• Next, contact your IRA custodian to authorize your donation. Here is sample letter of instruction to send to your IRA custodian.

CRS urges you to review any important decisions involving your IRA funds with your professional advisors.

IRS Guidelines

The IRS has released guidelines for IRA charitable donations for 2012 and 2013, including reporting requirements. You can review the guidelines here.

Questions? Concerns?

We're here to help:

Richard Balmadier, Director of Planned Giving
E-mail: richard.balmadier@crs.org
Phone: 1-888-277-7575; at the prompt, dial extension 7251

Demicca Ross, Planned Giving Associate
E-mail: demicca.ross@crs.org
Phone: 1-888-277-7575; at the prompt, dial extension 7438