tax rules favor IRA gifts
NOTE: Checks from your IRA should be made payable to the church or charity and sent directly from your IRA administrator.
Federal legislation authorizes direct distributions to charity from traditional IRAs for eligible persons. Persons over age 70 ½ may make gifts to charity directly from individual retirement accounts (IRAs) without including the distribution as personal income. The gift also counts as part of a donor’s required minimum distribution (RMD) if the RMD rules apply to the donor. (Note: The mandatory starting age for RMDs was recently increased. The change does not apply to folks who are already taking the RMD under prior rules.) As described below, an IRA charitable gift distribution must comply with certain rules to be a “qualified charitable distribution” (QCD)…