photo courtesy of Joe Burns

For Professional Advisors

If you’re a lawyer, accountant, financial advisor or estate planner, you’ll find the Washington County Community Foundation to be a ready and powerful tool to maximize your clients’ wealth and charitable giving.

For example, clients can use the Foundation to receive a double tax benefit. By making charitable gifts with appreciated assets (instead of cash or current income) such as stocks, mutual funds, farm or commercial property, even collectibles, your clients receive a tax deduction for the gift, and they eliminate capital gains taxes on the assets that were gifted.

For some clients, a legacy (planned or estate) gift may help to keep an estate below thresholds that could mean negative tax consequences for inheritors.

When a client has an extraordinary income year (high grain prices, employer buyout, stock awards, or other reasons), he or she may benefit from a donor advised fund. This allows the donor to accelerate his or her charitable giving of future years into the current year for a significant tax deduction, then dole out contributions over time.

For elderly clients who must take Required Minimum Distributions from their IRAs, it may be an advantage to gain a tax deduction and avoid capital gains taxes by donating part or all of their RMDs to the Foundation.

Contact the Foundation to see how its tools for charitable giving can benefit your clients.