Give a Little Piece of Your Heart (& Wallet)

Unlike the Janis Joplin classic “Take A Little Piece of My Heart”, it is the time of year to give a little piece of your heart and your finances to charity.

The first step in giving is to find a reputable charity that works to accomplish the your desired wishes.

• If you need help finding a charity with a mission that matches your desires, try using an online tool like Charity Navigator.

• To ensure that you are giving to an actual charity. Remember that GoFundMe accounts are not charitable organizations. You can confirm your charity’s status with this IRS tool.

Once you have found the charities that you wish to support, here are some hints to make the most of your charity from a tax perspective:

• Think about donating stock over cash. If you have an appreciated stock in your taxable account, you can donate it to charity and receive the current value as a deduction without paying the capital gains.

• Consider a Donor Advised Fund if you have a substantial amount of cash or stock that you would like to donate to a multiple charities over the next few years. By using a DAF, you can “bunch” your charitable giving deduction into one year, but fund charity at your discretion.

• If you are over 70.5 and required to make RMDs (you are not, but your parents may be), you can make those RMDs directly to your charity of choice and keep them out of your taxable income.

Just like every patient’s mouth is different, every tax situation is different. With the constantly changing economic and tax environment, we highly recommend you discuss your charitable giving and tax situation with your tax advisors (hopefully, that is JNG Advisors).