Ok I misspoke…mis-wrote? I guarantee the charity is looking at the postmark. It determines what year the revenue is for the charity. The nonprofit’s financial auditors even ask to look at postmarks.Yes, when the donor gives up control is what counts. For a QCD, the subject of this thread, that has nothing to do with the date the charity puts in the letter, but only when the money is removed from the IRA. So long as you can demonstrate that the gift described in the letter is the same one you have evidence of distributing from the IRA it doesn't matter what date the charity says it was made, the date of the gift is the date the money comes out of the IRA.It has to do with when the donor gives up control of the gift.
It is actually the charity that is issuing the acknowledgment and determining the year of contribution. That is the date the charity will put on the acknowledgment letter.The IRS can't see the postmark. Looking at the two dozen acknowledgement letters I have on hand for this year, none of them show the date of the postmark. Some show no date other than the date of the letter. Others show the date the donation was "received," "processed," or "made on," or don't define the date at all. The dates when shown are either the date of the check, or a date several days after the postmark, presumably when the donation was received or processed.But the IRS will look at that ack letter and for a mailed gift, it will go by postmark.
Only two charities have acknowledged the donation was a QCD, which of course doesn't matter to the IRS, but indicates most charities don't process QCDs any differently than other donations. One who did was the local state university, which has a large professional fund-raising staff. They also stated they were eligible to receive QCDs. The other was Wikimedia Foundation, which stated that since those giving by QCD had planned for their futures Wikimedia sends those donations to its endowment so it can produce support into the future.
But for the acknowledgement many charities will simply note date received on the acknowledgment. The IRS will want to see the ack letter if you’re ever audited. That was one point I wanted to get across!
I’m surprised more of your charities aren’t using QCD language that acknowledges it was received directly from your financial institution. We use QCD-specific language, something like this, to make it easier for the QCD donors if they’re ever audited. https://covenanttrust.com/wp-content/up ... Sample.pdf
I think that’s all I have to say here!
Statistics: Posted by Careful — Tue Dec 31, 2024 3:17 pm — Replies 53 — Views 2808