Mark Freeland wrote:


- quote -

Schwab's procedure was to send a check, payable to the charity, to the
IRA owner. I told her to photocopy it.

- quote -

She also got an acknowledgement from the charity.

JOE

"joetaxpayer" <joetaxpayer[at]nospam.com> wrote in message
news:66mdnRToH7QdKFLYnZ2dnUVZ_hqdnZ2d[at]comcast.com...
- quote -

Fidelity provided copies of the distribution forms that were filled out
(which I made sure specified the third party payee and the corresponding
EIN, as well as indicating that the withdrawal was for age 70.5+ and not for
59.5+). But no check copy. (Did you get a copy of the cancelled check, or
simply the outgoing check?)

I've read that what one can do is ask the trustee to send the check (made
payable to the charity) to the IRA owner rather than directly to the
charity. That would help to ensure that the IRA owner received a receipt
from the charity.

- quote -

Well, we know the count is at least two people :-).

Mark Freeland
BnetOnewsX[at]sbcglobal.net

I noted some time back here, and on my site, that in 2006 and 2007, any
or all of one's pre-tax IRA money (within certain limits) may be donated
to charity, and not declared as income.

This opportunity had very limited appeal as it would take a combination
of a) someone taking RMD, and b) not able to itemize, and c) wanting to
make a donation large enough to be worth the effort.

I have an 80 year old in exactly that position, and as part of our
November year end planning found she met all three criteria above.

Now that she handed me her folder with all her tax stuff, I see that the
entry form for 1099-R (on Turbo Tax) has exactly the line we need which
reads as follows;

"Qualified Charitable Distribution - Enter IRA distributions made
directly by the trustee to a qualified charitable organization"

This post is a result of my recalling a question here, "how will the
broker handle this?" In fact, the Schwab 1099 shows her entire RMD, but
we have the correct entry on Turbo Tax, and a copy of a check from
Schwab right to the charity. The donation is netted out on the tax form
before hitting the 1040.

I don't know if such stats are kept, but I'd think that a tiny fraction
of taxpayers actually could take advantage of this, and fewer still
actually did.
JOE