If you’ve been reading along with the 25 Days of Giving Series throughout December, thank you. If you’ve happened upon the GoFisch blog just now, welcome! I hope to see you back here often.
Giving for the sake of giving is great, however it’s financially wise to make certain your charitable donation is also beneficial in terms of your taxes.
Charitable gifts are defined by the IRS, at least for the purpose of qualifying for a charitable deduction from federal income tax. A review of statutes and caselaw show that the IRS attributes several major characteristics to charitable gifts:
Charitable intent
There must be a clear and unmistakable intention on the part of the donor to absolutely and irrevocably to divest herself of both title and control of the property.
Irrevocable transfer
The irrevocable transfer of the present legal title and dominion and control of the entire gift to the charity so that the donor can exercise no further act of dominion and control over it.
Delivery
The donor must deliver the gift to the charity. (Delivery can be made through a number of ways. This could be hand-delivered, like dropping off a check. It could also mean a secure electronic payment made on the charity’s website. In the case of charitable gifts of grain this could mean physically delivering the grain to a specific silo.)
Acceptance
The charity must accept the gift. For instance, you may want to donate part of your modern art collection to your favorite nonprofit, but if the nonprofit doesn’t have the resources to accept or doesn’t want the collection for some reason, it’s not a charitable gift.
Qualified organization
The donee must be an organization recognized as charitable by the IRS. You can use this IRS online search tool for organizations to see if the charity you’re considering donating to is recognized as tax-exempt.
Want to be sure your charitable gift is indeed a tax deductible charitable gift in the eyes of the IRS? What about charitable gifts or life insurance or a retained life estate? It certainly doesn’t hurt to take me up on my offer for a free one-hour consultation. Give me a call at 515-371-6077 or shoot me an email at gordon@gordonfischerlawfirm.com.
