Gifts of IRA or Other Retirement Plans

IRA Rollover Provision Extended through Year-End

Take Advantage of a Great Opportunitity!

Congress has renewed special incentives to make charitable gifts through individual retirement accounts.

• If you are over 70 and 1/2 years of age, you may opt to distribute up to $100,00 per year directly from your IRA to a qualified charity of your choice.
• The transfer must be made directly from your IRA trustee and the check made payable to Waukesha Memorial Hospital.
• While there is no charitable deduction for this charitable rollover, you reduce your taxable income by the amount of the transfer and the transfer applies toward the minimum distribution requirements for IRAs.
• This provision is set to expire on December 31, 2011, so act today.

Gifts of Retirement Plans

Many individuals today have large qualified retirement plans such as an IRA, 401(k), or Keogh plan. These assets have been growing tax-free for years. Once the owner begins to receive payments from the qualified plans, the distributions are taxed. The plans are also included in the owner's taxable estate. A retirement plan may be an excellent source of funds for making a gift to Waukesha Memorial Hospital Foundation.

One way to make a gift of your retirement plan is to create a charitable remainder trust through your will. It works like this: Your IRA assets will be transferred to a Charitable Remainder Trust. There is no tax due because the Charitable Remainder Trust is a tax-exempt entity. The Trust will provide life income to the beneficiary (for example, your child) with an eventual gift to the Foundation.  The beneficiary will pay income tax on the distributions from the Trust. Your estate will receive an estate tax charitable deduction for the value of the Foundation's right to eventually receive the Trust assets.

How to name a charity as IRA beneficiary

Since money in a retirement account passes outside of a person's will, it's necessary to spell out the client's wishes to leave it to a charity on the IRA beneficiary designation form. The options include:

• Making the charity a 100% beneficiary of the IRA
• Indicating that the charity is a beneficiary of a certain percentage of the IRA, and that the rest should go to individual beneficiaries in particular shares
• Specifying that the family can disclaim an inherited IRA, if they choose, and have it go to the charity

For more information on this type of giving opportunity, contact Nancy Seidl Nelson.