• The transfer must be made from your IRA directly to charity, otherwise you must declare the distribution as income
• The plan must be a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA
• A transfer can be made from a SIMPLE IRA or a simplified employment pension (“SEP”) plan only if no employer contributions were made during the year.
  
• Distributions from Roth IRAs are not taxed to the account owner, so it is still wise to determine if some asset other than the Roth IRA is best to give to charity
• Transfers are not deductible as charitable gifts
• You may receive no benefit from the charity for your transfer (e.g. tickets, dinners, etc.)
• Transfers cannot be made to charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts or pooled life income funds
• Transfers cannot be made to donor advised funds, private foundations, or "supporting organizations"
• The donor is responsible for and must obtain documentation for the transer as he/she would substantiate any other gift to charity
• Transfers are made from otherwise taxable income first. Non-taxable income in your IRA may not be considered a qualified transfer and should be handled differently

• If you already give up to your 50% charitable deduction limit of your adjusted gross income, this legislation may allow you to, in effect, exceed that limit in 2008 and 2009
• If you have a "carryover" of charitable deductions from past tax years, this legislation would allow you to make gifts without impacting those carryover amounts
• If your level of income causes a phase-out of certain deductions, a rollover may allow you to make gifts without increasing (maybe even decrease) your adjusted gross income
• If you do not itemize your deductions, you may be able to make gifts from your IRA without increasing (maybe even decrease) your adjusted gross income
• It may simply be easier to make a transfer from your IRA to charity and not need to worry about the income tax implications
• If the majority of your assets are in IRAs, it may be more convenient to make a direct transfer rather than reporting a withdrawal on your income tax return
• If you’ve been thinking about making a larger gift, this may provide a tax-advantaged time-frame for doing it
• In some states (check with your advisor) a charitable deduction is not allowed for state tax purposes. A rollover that, in effect, reduces your reportable income may result in savings on state taxes as well

• A person over age 70½ who is the beneficiary of an inherited IRA may make charitable transfers from that IRA
• Charitable transfers may be made from a SEP IRA or a SIMPLE IRA if no employer contributions were made to the IRA in the year of the transfer
• A qualified charitable distribution is not subject to withholding of income taxes
• The maximum total qualified charitable distribution amount each year is $100,000 per person, not per household, or per IRA account.
• Charitable IRA distributions can satisfy pledges
• The IRA administrator may issue a check payable to the charity and present it to the donor to deliver to the charity. The gift date then becomes the date the donor mails the check via the USPS or hand-delivers it to the charity.
• Transfers cannot be made from 401(k) plans, but it appears allowable for the donor to move a portion of a 401(k) into a Rollover IRA and then make a subsequent qualified charitable distribution from there

This web page does not provide legal or financial advice, nor is it intended as a comprehensive review of the topic. You should consult your attorney, tax advisor and St. Lawrence before making or planning your gift.