You are likely familiar with the concept of charitable giving resulting in tax savings, which often takes the form of income tax charitable deductions – for those who itemize. The increase in the standard deduction some years ago has resulted in far fewer taxpayers itemizing their deductions and therefore not obtaining this tax savings for their charitable gifts. However, there is good news for donors who are 70½ and older: using a qualified individual retirement account (IRA) to make a gift to a charitable organization results in an income tax benefit regardless of whether they itemize. 

These types of gifts are known as IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) and are very powerful ways to make charitable gifts as they use pre-tax assets and are not taxed since they are not recognized in income. Information to know before making an IRA QCD gift includes: 

• You must be 70½ or older at the time of your gift. 
• A QCD may be made only from traditional or Roth IRAs. If your retirement assets are held differently, you may be able to convert a portion of your assets into a qualified IRA to take advantage of this opportunity.
• Gifts must pass directly from your IRA to Bentley University (not through personal check or credit card). Most administrators send a QCD by check directly to Bentley. If your administrator has a different process, please let us know.
• Gifts may be of any amount, though in total cannot exceed $100,000 per year per donor. Spouses with their own IRA accounts can make gifts of up to $100,000 per year from each of their respective accounts. 
• Your tax benefit arises from the fact that your QCD is not included in your income, and therefore not taxed. For that reason, you are not able to also take an income tax charitable deduction for a QCD. Because the tax benefit is not related to itemizing deductions, it is available to you regardless of whether you itemize. 
• If your QCD results in lower income to you, this lower income may reduce taxes you owe for Social Security as well as your Medicare premiums.  
• If you are 70½ or older, there are tax-smart reasons to make a QCD. If you are taking the standard deduction and no longer itemizing your income tax charitable deductions, the QCD could be right for you. A QCD gift to a charitable organization such as Bentley is not included in your taxable income. The tax impact is as if you made a fully deductible gift to charity without increasing your income. 
• If you are age 72 or older and taking your Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), there is even better news. In addition to a QCD not being included in your taxable income, it also counts toward your RMD.
• QCDs may be used for most types of gifts to Bentley, such as Bentley Fund or endowment gifts. They may also be used to fulfill annual or multi-year pledges. However, they may not be used for life-income gifts.

How to make an IRA QCD gift to Bentley

• Please contact your IRA administrator and ask for QCD instructions.
• Checks should be payable to Bentley University. Also, instruct your IRA administrator to reference your name and that this is a QCD or Retirement Distribution on the check or attached advice statement to ensure that we record and receipt your gift properly.
• Checks should be sent to:
  
  Office of Gift Planning, LaCava 276
  Bentley University
  175 Forest Street
  Waltham, MA 02452
  
  If your IRA administrator says that they have Bentley’s address on file, kindly confirm that it references the Office of Gift Planning.
• Kindly contact us at 781-891-2475, 781-891-2586, or giftplanning@bentley.edu to let us know that your gift is on its way and how you would like it to be directed at Bentley.
• Wire transfers of QCD gifts may be possible. Please contact us for further details.
• To ensure that your QCD provides the intended calendar year tax benefits to you, we suggest that you initiate QCDs with your IRA administrator by December 1.