Loopholes

Charitable Contributions From Your IRA: Tips and Traps

A really neat thing happens when you turn 70 and ½. Your IRAs essentially turn into donor advised funds if you don’t need all the money in them to make ends meet. Rather than withdraw money from your IRA to make charitable contributions, you can make them out of the IRA. So instead of an itemized deduction, you get an exclusion from adjusted gross income. For some people this might be a wash, but for most it probably isn’t. Besides the possibility of not being over the standard deduction threshold, there are a host of computations and thresholds that involve AGI. There are some things you need to watch out for, but first let’s go over the basics.

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Think Outside the Tax Box provides tax reduction strategies along with practical implementation advice in order to reduce your clients’ federal tax bill with ease.

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CURRENT EDITION

Breaking Down Tax Benefits for Higher Education

Caitlin See, MPA

With the rising cost of higher education and greater reliance on student loans, taxpayers are looking for every opportunity to ease the financial burden of earning a degree. Fortunately, several higher education tax benefits are available to help offset the high cost of tuition, student loans and other education-related expenses. However, certain eligibility requirements — such as income limits and tax filing status — often trip up taxpayers along the way. Understanding the nuances of these tax benefits for higher education can ensure your clients take full advantage of available tax savings.

Don’t Forget About the Refund Statute Expiration Date

Timalyn Bowens, EA

Have you ever found an amazing strategy for a new tax prospect that they missed in previous years? Even worse, have you realized that you overlooked a client’s eligibility for a credit when you prepared their tax return? Not only that, but you had them make an unnecessary estimated tax payment. Well, it may not be too late for your client and prospect to take advantage of those credits for the year in question. The fate of your client isn’t sealed after filing their tax return. The IRS gives taxpayers a set amount of time to make a claim for a credit on their return. The IRS calls the date that this time sunsets the Refund Statute Expiration Date.

Syndicated Conservation Easement Promoters Continue to Lose In Tax Court

Peter J Reilly CPA

The Tax Court docket has been inundated with syndicated easement cases. In 2024, the IRS was mostly winning. That trend has continued in 2025. So far there have been three IRS wins. Here they are.