Charitable Planning
Many of the clients in the InSight-Full® planning process realize that they’ve accumulated the type of wealth that enables them to give back. We share this value of charitable planning at InSight in our ‘community matters’ core value. The ability to give back when you’re alive is an extremely rewarding feeling; however, when done incorrectly, can have lasting unwanted effects.
When going through our planning process our clients understand that even though the standard deduction has increased dramatically, making it harder to get a deduction for your charitable giving, that there still are ways to capture both the rewarding feeling of giving while also giving you tax incentives to do so. InSight clients that have accumulated a large net worth typically have large capital gains due to holding onto assets for a long period of time. So to combat the large tax bill due when selling their practice or stock positions that have increased substantially, we help implement strategies that empower our clients to give and save simultaneously by using different trusts and gifting strategies that give to charities while also supporting their income needs or future gifting desires.
There are three types of trusts that our clients like using for charitable planning:
1
Charitable Trusts, otherwise known as Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts (CRAT)
2
Charitable Remainder Unit Trusts (CRUT)
3
Charitable Lead Trusts (CLTs)
These three ways to sell or give assets to a trust. The main difference with a CRAT and CRUT when compared to CLT is the donor gets paid first while with the CLT the charity gets paid first. With the CRAT and CRUT you get a tax deduction today, provide income for a certain amount to the donor, and have the remainder of the assets held within the trust go to a charity when the term ends. The main difference between the CRAT and CRUT is how they provide you income during the term of the trust that you create. The CRAT provides a fixed amount of money per year while the CRUT provides a percentage of the principal each year. Also, you can add assets after inception into a CRUT but you cannot with a CRAT. With the CLT the opposite happens where the charity gets paid first, you still get the deduction today based on the value of the income stream, and the remainder goes to other beneficiaries or can be held in trust.
Whether you want to donate throughout your lifetime, at death, or through a Charitable Trust we provide meaningful context around which ways will benefit you, your business, and the charity the most. Clients that give their retirement accounts to charity not only benefit from an income tax deduction but their estate doesn’t recognize that gifted income. Although it may seem that providing a lump sum upfront to a charity is always best, sometimes there are other strategies that could support your family and your loved ones while also providing support to a charity.
Charities are often looking for more consistent ways to receive income to help them cover fixed costs. Without the proper plan you could be doing the charity and yourself a disservice by not taking advantage of certain tax incentives and trust planning techniques. Two popular ways to give money and permanently endow the causes you care about is by utilizing either a pooled income fund and/or a donor advised fund. Working In conjunction with your InSight-Full® to
Giving is something that InSight has put into our businesses values before we had our first dollar of income. Because it’s very important to us to give back. Furthermore, as a corporation, knowing that we can reduce our tax liability simultaneously is also something we like doing.
Whatever your goal, our InSight-Full® planning process will give you the clarity you need to make the best decision for everyone involved. Before pursuing a charitable giving plan, it’s important to consider the financial and tax implications of doing so. Discussing the options with your financial advisor, accountant and/or an estate planning professional can help you find the best options for charitable giving that allow you to maximize gifts while also minimizing potential tax implications.