Joe Anderson
ABOUT Joseph


Alan Clopine


Your stock portfolio can help improve your bottom-line on tax day. Financial professionals Joe Anderson and Alan Clopine break down charitable giving strategies. Learn how appreciated stock can benefit a charity close to your heart and help ease your tax burden. They also explain the benefits of a charitable trusts both now and in the future.


Joe: Speaking of giving appreciated stock, because we find that that to be a phenomenal strategy when it comes to giving because if you think about it, let’s say you had a stock worth $10,000 and then you have $1,000 tax basis. So, if you sold the stock, you would pay about $2,100 dollars in federal tax, and then you give the remaining to the charity. We’ve seen this done time and time again. But what’s a better strategy is this is saying you know what. Let’s keep this $10,000 stock directly to the charity, so we save this in capital gains tax. We don’t pay the capital gains tax. And this is assuming if you’re in the 37% tax bracket you save another $3,700 in federal tax. So, a total of around $6,000 in tax for a $10,000 gift. Now that’s really getting some bang for your dollars, making yourself a little bit better, right. But also giving more to the charity. And Al, I think that’s a key component.

Alan: I think it is Joe and I think a lot of people don’t realize that charities will take stocks and why does this work so well. Well, a charity is a nonprofit, so they get your stock. It’s worth $10,000 the tax basis is a $1,000. There’s a $9,000 gain if they sell it. But guess what? They’re nonprofit, so they don’t pay any tax. So, both you win.

Joe: Yeah. So, looking at other people hold stocks, but not a lot of people hold stocks within their non-qualified account in their retirement accounts.

Alan: That’s exactly right to Joe. Because this only works for non-retirement accounts if you have appreciated stock inside your retirement account. This doesn’t work.

Joe: Yeah, but you can use the QCD.

Alan: Yes, but I’ll tell you what does work. And that’s what’s called a QCD, qualified charitable distribution. What the heck is that? So, this is relatively new. I think it was 2013 that this came around, but it’s going to be used more and more because of the higher standard deductions with the new tax act. So how does it work? You have to be 70 and a half years old, and then you can give up to $100,000, and it can count for your required minimum distribution. And so, what happens, what’s going to happen, is happening right now, people that want to give they don’t have enough this itemized deductions, but they’re over 70 and a half, and they’re taking their required minimum distribution paying tax on that. Why don’t you give the required minimum distribution directly to charity? So, then you don’t have to pay tax on it. You still get the standard deduction. Joe, I think it’s going to be a strategy that people utilize a lot more.

Joe: Right, because it’s not even going to show up on their tax return. Right. So, it’s not going to show up as income as a required distribution, and then you give it to charity with this it just goes directly to charity, do not pass go, doesn’t even show up on the tax return, which is huge. And I think a lot more people are going to start using these QCDs.

Alan: And I think the other thing too is not everybody’s 70 and a half, so.

Joe: Right.

Alan: Are there ways to take donation deductions this year for future contributions?

Click here to watch the full episode on Charitable Giving