Jason E. Havens is Senior Counsel in our Tallahassee office and Richard P. Sills is a Partner in our Washington D.C. office .
Near the end of 2014, both donors and charities have reasons to celebrate. The Senate passed the House bill known as the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 (H.R. 5771) to extend various tax provisions, including the IRA charitable rollover provision. This legislation would also extend the increased deduction for conservation easements, although this type of charitable gift is generally not feasible unless the required appraisal and relatively complex documents are already in process. Unfortunately the bill only applies for 2014. Most commentators anticipate that President Obama will sign the bill into law soon.
There was another House bill known as the Supporting America's Charities Act (H.R. 5806) that focused on making advantageous charitable provisions permanent. However, it failed to pass the House. Even if it had passed, the bill likely would have been vetoed by President Obama, whose office issued a statement in general support of the charitable community but not to the tune of a bill that would allegedly result in additional deficits of $500 billion or more over a ten-year period.
Charities and advisors are mobilizing to facilitate IRA charitable rollovers before December 31, 2014. We hope that anyone whose goals include philanthropy will take advantage of this opportunity.
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