Another smart use of your IRA

While you may initially appreciate the income, as time goes on, the higher withdrawal requirements can sometimes push you into a higher tax bracket, increasing your taxes. 

A few years ago, Congress made the IRA charitable rollover permanent. The rollover law allows taxpayers who are required to withdraw money from their IRAs to give directly to charity. Because the rollover counts against your required minimum distribution (RMD), making an IRA rollover gift to an organization like ours could reduce your income and taxes. 

The IRA rollover is a great way for you to help support your Catholic parish, school, diocese, or other ministry. While you won’t receive an income tax deduction for a rollover gift, you also won’t pay any income tax on the transfer. 

The transfer only works for IRAs and not with other retirement accounts. An important feature to remember is that any gifts to charity that come from an IRA need to come from the IRA itself. So, to realize the tax advantage, the charitable gift should originate and be dispersed by the IRA custodian. For your own unique situation, check with your tax advisor or the custodian of your own IRA account for advice.    

Here are some of the requirements for making an IRA rollover charitable gift this year: 

• You must be age 70½ or older.
• You must transfer money directly from your IRA to a qualified charity.
• You can give annually (for 2025) up to $108,000 from your IRA.