Not too early to be a 2017 IRA Smarty
2017 brings a new chance to use the Give and Grin Rule to make a tax-free donation from your IRA to a charity of your choice. The Give and Grin Rule provides that if you are age 70½ (70.5) or older you can donate from your IRA directly to the Qualified Organization of your choice — tax-free! This special IRA donation rule allows you to give up to $100,000 in a calendar year.
The gift counts against your 2017 required minimum distribution.
Your IRA trustee can provide the paperwork. Or, it’s specially easy to get this done if you have check-writing privileges on your IRA account.
We wrote about this in detail back in September 2016 (link: Be an IRA Smarty).
Major personal finance and news outlets are also spreading the word about the Give and Grin Rule. See these articles,
- Money Magazine: The Secret Upside to Donating to Charity Directly From an IRA
- Kiplinger: Donate Your RMD Tax-Free to Charity in 2016
- Chicago Tribune: Ask Kim: FAQs about giving your RMD to charity
- CNBC News: Now you can donate to charity through your IRA
- Wall Street Journal: The Benefit of Donating Your Required IRA Distributions to Charity