• IRA charitable rollover
• Enhanced charitable deduction for food inventory
  
• Enhanced charitable deduction for land conservation

LATEST NEWS
The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 has extended through 2013 the IRA charitable rollover, the enhanced deductions for contributions of food inventory and property for conservation purposes, and the basis adjustment to stock of S corporations making charitable contributions of property. The extenders package included in the final legislation was taken from extenders legislation approved by the Senate Finance Committee in August 2012.

Senate Finance Committee Extenders Legislation

The Senate Finance Committee approved a slimmed down extenders package August 2, 2012. The Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012 includes provisions to:

The package does not include the now-expired enhanced deductions for books and computer equipment. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Finance Committee ranking member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said that the newly streamlined package allows close to 25 percent of the current tax provisions to expire. It is unclear when or if the package will receive full Senate consideration before the November elections.

• Summary of package reported out of Committee
  
• Full Committee report
  
• Revenue estimates (JCT)
• Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Report
  

IS Position
Because the IRA rollover and other incentives have come under close scrutiny, Independent Sector will be working closely with its members and will support coalitions to make the case for bringing greater certainty to these powerful giving tools beyond 2013.

An OP-ED by IS President and CEO Diana Aviv was published in the March 27, 2012 edition of Roll Call, urging the reinstatement of the expired individual and corporate charitable giving incentives.

Independent Sector sent a letter to members of the Finance Committee, including Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), ranking member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) urging the reinstatement of the charitable provisions as soon as possible. IS has also signed onto a broader tax coalition letter sent to every member of Congress urging quick legislative action to restore the expired tax provisions.

Independent Sector also submitted a statement for the record in support of permanently reinstating these giving incentives for the April 26, 2012 House Ways and Means Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee Hearing on extenders.

Background
IRA Charitable Rollover
The IRA Rollover was first enacted in 2006 as part of the Pension Protection Act.  The provision allows individuals aged 70½ and older to donate up to $100,000 from their Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) to public charities without having to count the distributions as taxable income.

Since the provision was first enacted, Americans have made millions of dollars of new contributions to nonprofits -- including social service programs, religious organizations, arts and cultural institutions, schools, and health care providers -- that benefit people every day. 

The IRA Charitable Rollover was first enacted on August 17, 2006, as part of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 and has been reinstated for 2011.

• Eligibility Age. Taxpayers age 70½ and older are required to make annual distributions from their IRAs which are then included in the taxpayers’ adjusted gross income (AGI) and subject to taxes.The IRA Charitable Rollover permits those taxpayers to make donations directly to charitable organizations from their IRAs without counting them as part of their AGI and, consequently, without paying taxes on them.
• Annual Cap. A donor’s total combined charitable IRA rollover contributions cannot exceed $100,000 in any one year.
• Eligible Charities. Charitable contributions from an IRA must go directly to a public charity that is not a supporting organization. Contributions to donor-advised funds and private foundations, except in narrow circumstances, do not qualify for tax-free IRA rollover contributions.
• Eligible Retirement Accounts. Distributions can only be made from traditional Individual Retirement Accounts or Roth IRAs. Charitable donations from 403(b) plans, 401(k) plans, pension plans, and other retirement plans are ineligible for the tax-free treatment.
• Directly to the Charity. Distributions must be made directly from the IRA trustee payable to the public charity.
• No Gifts in Return. Donors cannot receive any goods or services in return for charitable IRA rollover contributions in order to qualify for tax-free treatment.
• Written Receipt. In order to benefit from the tax-free treatment, donors must obtain written substantiation of each IRA rollover contribution from each recipient charity.