How to Reduce Your Tax Liability and Make a Difference

With taxes fresh in your mind, now is a good time to ask yourself, “Well, how did I do?”

Were you able to correctly estimate withholding and payments to cover your tax liability, or did you find yourself writing a big check at tax time to cover a shortfall?

What if I told you there was a way to reduce your tax liability up to 50%, and at the same time make an enormous difference in the community?

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Taking Control of Your Hard-Earned Dollars

The solution involves shifting focus away from the routine of simply meeting expenses with wages, retirement income, or the sale of assets and then settling up with the IRS at the end of the year.

With a little planning early in the year, you can break free of such a pattern and at the same time multiply your philanthropic efforts.

Professional advisors can meet with you to help figure your estimated income and expenses, and then incorporate your charitable contributions in a way that gives you more control.

Three Ways Both You and San Diego Benefit

Here at The San Diego Foundation, our goal is to create strategies to benefit you and the community causes you care about. Here are three common examples:

• Gifts from income cash
  You may have an IRA required minimum distribution (RMD), and giving some of that RMD to your donor-advised fund* will offset your taxable income (up to 50%) by the amount of the gift, leaving you with more after-tax income to maintain your lifestyle.
• Gifts from appreciated securities
  You may not need to hold onto your low-basis stock, especially when the alternative is a big tax bill on your income. Gifting the stock to a donor-advised fund will add to your charitable giving while reducing your taxable income.Read more about endowment versus non-endowment donor-advised funds here.
• Gifts from income real estate
  You may feel anxious about your property and, while it produces income and has grown in value, the expenses and the maintenance no longer make it a worthwhile investment. Gifting the property has two benefits: you incur no capital gains tax, and you receive a charitable deduction against your other income.

Learn More

You’ve heard it’s your tax-paying choice to contribute to the U.S. Government.  Why not meet with our experts to help you exercise more control over your tax paying, while at the same time supporting the future of San Diego through philanthropy?

Learn More

* Your donor-advised fund at The San Diego Foundation is your customized charitable fund, similar to a private foundation but with many benefits such as professional investment management, no burden of tax liabilities and administrative tasks, and commitment by our Board of Governors to honor your wishes.

About Leslie Klein, CFP®

Leslie works closely with San Diego’s professional advisors and their clients to customize charitable solutions – combining donors’ visions with The Foundation’s expertise in philanthropy and financial management. She brings more than 30 years of experience in the fiduciary and investment management marketplace. Most recently, Leslie served for 12 years as Vice President/Wealth Management Advisor at First American Trust. Leslie graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Read more posts by Leslie