Senate Signals Support for Expanding IRA Rollover to Include Life-Income Gifts

The National Committee on Planned Giving reports that the Senate approved its fiscal year 2009 budget resolution (S. Con. Res. 70). The resolution includes language that calls on Congress to reinstate the IRA Charitable Rollover, which expired on December 31, 2007, and expand the provision to allow for life-income agreements, including charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts and pooled income funds. The budget resolution is a non-binding document that sets aggregate spending and revenue targets for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2008 and outlines broad policy goals.

Update on IRA Charitable Rollover

Late last week, the Senate decided to drop extensions of expiring tax provisions (also known as "extenders") from an alternative minimum tax bill (AMT). That likely means that the IRA charitable rollover will not be extended prior to Dec. 31, 2007. Leaders in both chambers have said that they would like to pass the extenders in early 2008, but the timing is uncertain.

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Senate Passes AMT Patch Without IRA Charitable Rollover, UBIT Provision
On Thursday, Dec. 6, Senate leaders decided to split an alternative minimum tax (AMT)/tax extenders package, leading to Senate passage of a one-year AMT patch bill that does not include an extension of the current law IRA charitable rollover nor a provision changing the tax treatment of tax-exempt hedge fund investments. The AMT patch bill was passed on a vote of 88-5. Senate leaders expressed hope that the tax extenders could be approved at a later date, most likely in 2008.

Read more about this on the CASE website.