Put Your IRA to Work for the Islands

IRA, RMD, QCD, SJPT?

Besides alphabet soup, what do these acronyms have in common?

Sunset view from Turtleback | Staff Archive

If you do not depend upon your IRA Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) to meet your living expenses, you may want to consider using your RMD to full tax advantage when making your charitable gifts.If you are 70 ½ years old or older and have an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), they can all point to some nifty tax benefits for you, even as you support SJPT’s work to conserve and protect the islands you love.

You may make a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) directly from your IRA account to the San Juan Preservation Trust. You will avoid paying income tax on the gifted portion of your RMD, while simultaneously satisfying your charitable giving. There is a $100,000 limit per person on all QCD gifts made in one year.

Many of us have annual charitable giving budgets that are much smaller than $100,000, and for us also, QCDs of much smaller amounts still offer a tax benefit. Particularly in light of the recent changes in income tax law, while many more of us may be taking the standard deductions in the coming years rather than itemizing, using our RMD for charitable giving makes a lot of sense.

If you’re interested in using your IRA RMD for charitable giving, click here for more details.

Thanks for considering!