Retirement Assets

Making gifts from your IRA, 401(k) plans, profit-sharing plans, and other retirement assets can maximize your philanthropic impact at Denison while minimizing the tax hit for you and your family.

When left to beneficiaries, your retirement plan benefits are subject to both income and estate taxes which can total more than 80 percent of the benefits’ value. But when left to Denison, 100 percent of your assets go where they were intended: to support our educational mission.

Example:Jane Smith accumulates $1 million in retirement-plan assets. Upon her death at age 73, she leaves them to her two children. Because of taxes, however, the amount Jane’s children receives could be less than $200,000. By contrast, Jane could have left the $1 million to Denison, and the entire amount would have been available to create a scholarship or fund another of her favorite programs.

Planning for a surviving spouse:

Your retirement-plan benefits can also be used to fund a qualified charitable remainder trust for the benefit of your spouse, children or others. If a surviving spouse is designated beneficiary of the trust payments for his or her life, then the entire value of the trust, regardless of its size, will be deductible for estate-tax purposes. Since a qualified charitable remainder trust is a tax-exempt entity, it does not have to pay any income tax on the receipt of the retirement-plan benefits. Thus, the full value of the retirement-plan benefits will be available to provide payments.

Questions?

Jason James Shuba

Jason James Shuba ’02

Director of Gift Planning

shubaj@denison.edu

216-392-2229

Headshot of Bill Storch

Bill Storch

Associate Director of Gift Planning

storchb@denison.edu

740-587-5019