Some resources that may be helpful in relation to financial, estate, and charitable planning.

The tax-free charitable IRA rollover was extended until December 31, 2009 as part of The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, signed into law on October 3, 2008.  This legislation enables you to make a gift from your IRA to Harvard in both 2008 and 2009, and exclude the transferred amount from your taxable income.

• You must be 70 ½ or older
• The transfer must go directly from your IRA to Harvard
• Your gift cannot exceed $100,000 per year
• Your gift counts toward your required minimum distribution
• The transferred amount is not included in your taxable income. (There is no income tax deduction for the transfer.)

Please note that transfers to charitable remainder trusts, gift annuities, donor advised funds and private foundations do not qualify.

The 2008 IRS Form 1040 is currently available in print and on-line at http://www.irs.gov/. Specific information on how to report your gift from your IRA can be found on page 23 (Exception #3) of the Form 1040 instructions.

To briefly summarize these instructions, your IRA custodian or trustee will report all distributions from the IRA to both you, as the IRA owner, and to the IRS. You must then report the total IRA distribution on line 15a and the portion of the distribution that is taxable (the portion not distributed directly to charity) on line 15b. You should enter “QCD”, for qualified charitable distribution, next to line 15b.

For example, let us assume that in 2008 John Harvard was required to withdraw $10,000 from his IRA as his minimum distribution. If he decided to direct the IRA trustee to distribute $7,000 to Harvard as a gift and the balance of $3,000 to himself, he would report $10,000 on line 15a (total distribution) and $3,000 on line 15b (total distribution of $10,000 – charitable gift to Harvard of $7,000 = $3,000 in taxable distributions). Please note, charitable IRA gifts (QCDs)are not reported on Schedule A where itemized charitable gifts are reported, as such amounts have already been excluded from income.

Click below to see sample instruction letters to initiate your gift.

Sample Request from Plan Owner to IRA Administrator

Sample Letter from Donor Informing Harvard of IRA Transfer

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