Donaldson, a faculty member at Georgia State Law, engaged a full house with practical tips for planning for married couples with varying estate sizes and with strategies for anticipating state transfer taxes and appropriate trust tools. He provided a thorough overview of post-enactment guidance for the Tax Cuts and Job Act of 2017, along with 2019 notes of interest for estate planning professionals.
In his concluding slides for contemporary tax strategies, Donaldson explained that donors can maximize deductions through charitable giving by “bunching” donations to a donor-advised fund. He noted that charitably-minded donors over the age of 70 ½ can direct their IRA custodians to pay the required minimum distributions to a specified charity. Donors would not receive a deduction for a charitable rollover gift, however, they would benefit from not adding to their taxable income. Said Donaldson, “Charitable rollovers are even better under the new law, now that the limit on the deduction for cash contributions has been increased.”
