CGP April Advocacy Update

Thursday, April 29, 1 p.m. ET

With enactment of a historic $1.9 trillion relief and recovery bill now in the rearview mirror, Congress is turning its attention to President Biden’s next agenda item: an overhaul and upgrade of the nation’s infrastructure. This broad, two-part package will also seek to significantly alter the country’s tax laws, which in turn will affect charitable giving. Join CGP on Thursday, April 29 at 1 p.m. ET for its April Advocacy Update to learn about these new developments in Congress as well as what specific policy initiatives CGP is pursuing this year in Washington, DC. 

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All advocacy updates are FREE to anyone who registers. April’s Advocacy Update is the second in a series of six updates hosted by CGP throughout the year. The Advocacy Update series is sponsored by:

IRA Legacy Act Introduced in Senate

On February 4^th S. 243 was introduced into the Senate by Senators Cramer (R-ND), Stabenow (D-MI), Daines (R-MT), Rosen (D-NV), Cornyn (R-TX) This bill expands the current outright qualified charitable distribution to $130,000 and includes life income gifts with an annual aggregate cap for all qualified charitable distributions at $400,000.

A modified version of the Legacy IRA Act was included in the bipartisan Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2020 introduced by House Ways and Means Committee

Chairman Neal and Ranking Member Brady in October 2020 (H.R. 8696, Section 310). The bill under Section 310 modifies the Legacy IRA Act to allow for the funding of life income gifts up to $130,000 and expands the original IRA Rollover provision up to $130,000 in outright gifts. Under Section 311, it would change the rules to make qualified distributions from other qualified retirement plans, such as 401(k)s, to nonprofits. CGP, along with a coalition of nearly 50 national nonprofits support the standalone Legacy IRA Act and the version included in the House Ways and Means retirement package.

Score/Cost of the Bill
The Joint Committee on Taxation has scored the Legacy IRA Act at $38 million per year. The cost is minimal because the income on any life income gift is fully taxable at ordinary income levels. Planned giving experts indicate that the Legacy IRA Act could raise up to $1 billion each year for charities.

Read the Bill

Expanded Universal Charitable Deduction Bills Introduced

On March 9^th S. 618 was introduced into the Senate by Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma and H.R. 1704 was introduced into the House of Representatives by Representative Chris Pappas of New Hampshire. The bill titled Universal Giving Pandemic Response and Recovery Act would allow taxpayers who claim the standard deduction, rather than itemizing deductions, on their tax returns to take a deduction for charitable giving valued at up to one-third of the standard deduction (around $4,000 for an individual filer and $8,000 for married joint filers). This added giving incentive would be available for tax years 2021 and 2022.

Charitable Beneficiary IRA Distribution Resource Center

In a recent CGP survey 43% of organizations stated they experienced difficulty in collecting beneficiary proceeds from one or more IRA administrators. This is a matter of great concern to nonprofit organizations across the country. Many individuals and organizations are working to improve the timely distribution of beneficiary proceeds from financial institutions. Through awareness, advocacy and the collection of valuable information to assist organizations, they have created a number of resources to expedite distributions and promote change in institutional policy. The goal of the center is to organize the results of their efforts in one location to benefit the entire nonprofit sector.

View Resource Center

Reforming the Charitable Deduction Report

November 3, 2019

The Joint Economic Committee of the United State Congress has released a new report; Reforming the Charitable Deduction. This is an important bipartisan report on charitable giving that includes analysis on trends in U.S. charitable giving, an insightful overview of the charitable deduction and most importantly possible reforms to make the charitable deduction more equitable to all taxpayers. 

View Full Report

CGP Public Policy Platform

The CGP Board of Directors has a Public Policy Platform that serves to guide CGP advocacy activities in support of the charitable giving community and the broader nonprofit sector.

CGP's Platform