Private foundations in the United States donated about $1.38 billion in grants to individuals in the last five years.1 But extensive regulatory requirements governing grants to individuals mean that such largess should be accomplished cautiously...
The Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act that President Bush signed Sept. 23 included some substantial changes to the legislation initially proposed. What survived the chopping block, what crept in the back door, and what does it all mean for...
One of the defining characteristics of closely held business owners is their need to control. This need prevents many from using lifetime transfer strategies, leaving only testamentary approaches, which are inherently less transfer tax efficient...
The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (AJCA) significantly changed the charitable gift1 substantiation requirements concerning qualified appraisals (QAs).2 The new rules, codified throughout Internal Revenue Code Section 170,3 expand the...
The recent, intense scrutiny of non-profits has centered mostly on whether they are complying with legal and ethical obligations. For the past two years, press exposs and Congressional hearings have highlighted behavior by board members and chief...
To better serve clients, it may be important for us to move to the other side of the desk. If the results of our decisions impacted our own family members, would we do things differently? Would we, in fact, eat our own cooking? Early in my career...
In the article DAF Kickbacks, (July 2005), author Bruce B. Makous claims that asset-retention arrangements involving sales commissions/incentives for donor-advised funds are common practice. The National Committee on Planned Giving (NCPG) the...
Over the last 20 years, investors have been increasingly demanding liquidity in nearly every aspect of their financial lives. Real estate investment trusts that trade daily, like stocks, have replaced limited partnerships as the preferred choice...
The federal government helps your clients be philanthropists with tax incentives that greatly reduce the out-of-pocket cost of charitable gifts and in many cases enable donors to contribute much more than they originally imagined. To assure...
The next few years will see tremendous change in the world of philanthropic planning. Non-profit entities, as well as the financial and estate-planning communities that serve them, will have to work to adapt to a number of important trends: the...
