It's the season for email newsletters hitting your inbox with tax planning tips. We get it! With so much information for your clients to consider, we highly recommend that you cut through the noise and focus on these three key tax strategies before late December: 

1. Don’t miss out on the few provisions of the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that carried over to 2021, including the ability to deduct up to 100% of adjusted gross income (AGI) for cash gifts made directly to qualifying charities and the “universal” charitable deduction of $300 per taxpayer ($600 for a married couple).

2. Unlike in 2020, when pandemic relief laws offered a tax break, this year there are required minimum distributions from qualified retirement accounts. Especially for those who take the standard deduction, it’s still important to consider a qualified charitable distribution, which allows eligible individuals to donate up to $100,000 directly from individual retirement accounts to a qualified charity. The community foundation is happy to help identify a qualified charity or a qualifying fund to receive a distribution.  

3. “Bundling” or “bunching” multiple gifts into tax year 2021 can help those who have had exceptionally high incomes this year. Opening a Donor Advised Fund at the Community Foundation is particularly useful in these situations. We’d love to discuss this option.

We know that professional advisors strive to identify the optimal tax strategies for each client’s charitable giving. The Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County is here to help support that process for donors and you. As these last two planning months of 2021 wind down,  please contact us to find out how we can help with year-end gifts that yield tax savings for you and your charitable clients at 410-280-1102.