More to the kingdom, less to the IRS!
Would you like to sow into the kingdom of God with funds that have never been taxed? That is exactly what you can do if you have a traditional IRA and are age seventy and a half or older. This is a benefit offered by the IRS that every believer should consider taking advantage of. You can make gifts directly from your traditional IRA to Andrew Wommack Ministries without paying income tax on the withdrawal!
An IRA is generally comprised of “tax-deferred” funds. This means that while you were working and contributing to your IRA, you were setting aside funds for your retirement. At the time, these funds were not taxed, and hopefully, this had the effect of keeping you in a lower tax bracket. The exchange for this benefit is that these funds are generally taxable when they are withdrawn from the IRA. However, when you turn seventy and a half, the IRS allows you to give from these funds directly to a charity without ever paying tax on the distribution!
Gifts from your IRA to charity are called qualified charitable distributions (QCDs). An awesome benefit of QCDs is that they can count toward your annual required minimum distribution. A required minimum distribution is the minimum amount that a person who is age seventy and a half or over must withdraw from their account each year (see irs.gov/Retirement-Plans). A QCD is an excellent tax-free donation!
Here are a few guidelines on how QCDs work:
- You must be age seventy and a half or older at the time the gift is made from your traditional IRA.
- A QCD counts toward your required minimum distribution for the year.
- You can give once or multiple times per year from your traditional IRA, up to a total of $100,000 annually.
- You must call or send a request to your IRA plan custodian to transfer funds (usually a check) from your IRA directly to AWM.
- When instructing your IRA plan custodian to make a gift, please request that your name and address be included with the check so that we can properly post your donation.
Given the potential tax benefits of QCDs, it is no surprise that they are a favorite way for our partners who are seventy and a half and older to sow into the kingdom!
“My financial advisor suggested the money [from my IRA] go to charities, rather than the IRS. Yes, I would much rather have the money go to the kingdom than the IRS. I wouldn’t have known to do this if he hadn’t told me about it.”
— AWMI partner, Carole F.
If you would like more information about how to give to AWM from your traditional IRA, please call us at 719-635-1111 and select option 5 for “partnership.” You can also email us at noncash@awmi.net.
The information in this article is not intended as legal or tax advice. For such advice, please consult an independent attorney or tax advisor.
