Our Services
We provide services for all tax-related aspects of charitable giving regardless of the method or your stage of life. This includes services for charitable remainder trusts from the design to the end of the trust, as well as individual tax planning and preparation services for the charitably inclined.
Below are a few of the tools we use to build solutions tailored to each unique client situation.
The Charitably Inclined
Donor Advised Funds (DAF’s)
This low-cost giving vehicle provides an easy way to liquidate non-cash assets, while also separating the timing of your tax deduction and your giving to charities. DAF’s can also be a useful tool for involving children in family giving, as well as gifting that can outlive the donor.
IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD’s)
Many retired donors receive little or no tax benefit from their charitable giving due to the structure of current tax law. Giving by way of direct IRA transfers to charities, known as QCD’s, can be a critical tool to work around this issue. Proper planning can amplify the benefits.
Charitable “Bunching”
With standard deductions reaching the mid $30,000’s for a retired married couple, many Americans get no tax benefit from their charitable giving because their itemized deductions do not exceed the standard deduction. Charitable bunching is one way to work around this issue, but it’s important to understand how it applies to your unique facts.
Charitable Remainder Trusts
Design & Formation
Optimizing the design of a CRT can be complicated, especially when taking into account a donor’s specific tax situation. We want to understand your unique situation and goals so we can best optimize:
What you’re donating.
When you’re donating it.
How the trust will be structured.
The structure of the trust could involve a ‘flip’ function or NIMCRUT, and other mechanisms based on a given donor’s facts and goals.
Administration
Over decades, we have mastered a system to efficiently manage the tax and accounting needs of CRT’s. Below are a few highlights:
Timely K-1’s - We work to complete CRT tax returns soon as 1099 information is available, so K-1s are completed well in advance of personal tax preparation needs. We typically complete 80% of returns by March 15th, and 95% by April 10th. K-1’s can be securely forwarded directly to the client’s individual tax preparer.
Cost effective - We work on a clear, fixed-fee basis, and not based on the value of the trust.
Supporting information:
We detail exactly how much and when the trust’s income distributions will be everyone involved is clear and informed.
One-page summary of the general terms of the trust that all involved parties can understand in plain English.
Three-year, high-level comparison of the financial performance of the trust.
Accounting summary showing transactions for the year in balance sheet and income statement format.
Distribution
We will coordinate with the relevant industry professionals at each step of the way.
Many of our CRT clients have an existing personal tax return preparer who we will coordinate with as desired, and we only handle the CRT tax filing. Alternatively, we can also handle the personal tax preparation.
When the CRT ends (after a period of years, or death of the final income beneficiary, or if the donor decides to unwind the trust), we’re here to help cleanly finalize the trust and help ensure charitable donations reach the proper destination.
