House Passes One-Year Extension of IRA Charitable Rollover but Senate Still Needs to Act

On Wednesday, December 3, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a one-year extension of certain tax breaks that had expired on December 31, 2013. Included in the bill is the popular IRA charitable rollover. The Senate still needs to act, so the rollover has NOT yet been passed into law.

If renewed, the IRA rollover will once again be available to individuals 70 1/2 and older; it must be made directly from an IRA to a charitable organization and cannot exceed $100,000.

• The rollover is not included in an individual’s gross income and can be used to satisfy the minimum distribution requirement for 2014.
• Unfortunately, there is no provision in the House bill to allow individuals who might have taken an IRA distribution in December to make a gift to charity in the amount of the distribution and have that gift qualify as a charitable rollover.

Time will be extremely short for those who might wish to take advantage of the rollover—the tax break extension approved by the House ends December 31.

If the Senate passes the House bill without amendments, it will then go to the president for his signature, leaving perhaps a week or two at most to accomplish the rollover.