Charitable IRA Rollover

Now you can reliably plan charitable IRA rollover gifts, year after year.  One December 18, 2015, the president signed legislation indefinitely extending the charitable IRA rollover, making it retroactive to January 1, 2015, with no expiration date. 
 
Read below for answers to frequently asked questions about this popular option.  Feel free to also call Emily Lev, Director of Stewardship & Public Relations at (802) 479-8516, or email emily.lev@vermonthistory.org, to learn how the charitable IRA rollover provision can help you support your area of interest at the Vermont Historical Society. 
 
Frequently Asked Questions (PDF) 
 
A donor’s thoughts on giving via IRA rollovers:

“Recently I have been able to use a new vehicle for making my annual gift to the Vermont Historical Society.  Actually, I first learned of this option many years ago at a VHS board meeting, but had filed the information until I was age 70 ½ when I became eligible to use it.  At this age, anyone with a retirement account is required by law to begin taking annual ‘RMD’s’ (Required Minimum Distributions).  The bank or investment firm will notify you of the required amount and the necessary timing.  If you take the distribution as cash, it will be treated as income for tax purposes.  But, if you have them gift it directly to an eligible 501(c)(3) organization, such as VHS, it may be done tax free.  You may direct the entire RMD to one organization, or divide it among several, as I did.  Using the RMD for some of your charitable giving may even permit you to be more generous that you could have been when making your gift out of discretionary funds.  This is truly a situation where everyone wins – VHS, of course, but also you, since you are avoiding a tax penalty, and making a gift you would have made anyway.  Try it; you’ll like it!” – Sarah L. Dopp, VHS Honorary Trustee