Real Estate Gifts
Did you know that one of the most popular ways of making a charitable gift is by gifting real estate?
Whether it is a personal residence, vacation home, commercial property, or raw land, your underutilized or unneeded real estate may make an excellent charitable gift. Why? Because a present or future gift offers you the opportunity for valuable income tax and estate tax savings. Moreover, you can free yourself of immediate and future management and selling issues.
If you make a gift of real estate now and are in the position where you itemize deductions on your return, you can receive a substantial income tax deduction for that gift. Or, perhaps, you want or need to use the property for some time to come or even retain lifetime use of the property. In either case, you can still make the necessary arrangements now and benefit from a sizeable, current income tax deduction.
Another alternative would be to turn unneeded real estate into a stream of income. You can use your real estate to fund a Charitable Gift Annuity. A Charitable Gift Annuity is a simple contract between you and RIT. In exchange for your irrevocable gift of real estate, RIT agrees to pay one or two individuals, which you name, a guaranteed sum each year for life. The payments are backed by the general resources of RIT. The older your designated annuitants are at the time of the gift, the greater the guaranteed payments.
If you give appreciated property you will pay capital gains tax on only part of the appreciation. In addition, if you name yourself as the first or only annuitant, the capital gains tax will be spread out favorably over many years. Most importantly, a Charitable Gift Annuity qualifies for a charitable deduction.
We'll be glad to assist you, your attorney, and/or tax advisor in pursuing any of these ideas further. Please contact:
