May 1, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee have introduced a bill that would renew and extend a key provision on charitable giving that affects donors with individual retirement accounts.
Until December 31 of last year, donors age 70 or older were able to transfer up to $100,000 to charity from their individual retirement accounts each year without paying income taxes on the money.
The new bill would extend that provision to the end of 2009, according to its authors, Sens. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, and Charles Grassley of Iowa, the committee’s senior Republican.
Earlier this year, when he submitted a budget plan for 2009 to Congress, President Bush proposed renewing the IRA provision and making it permanent.
Additional provisions in the bill drafted by Mr. Baucus and Mr. Grassley would renew and extend other provisions related to charitable giving, including one involving donated property used for conservation purposes and another on deductions allowed for gifts of food inventory.
A description of the provisions of the bill — the Alternative Minimum Tax and Extenders Relief Act of 2008 (S 2886) — is available on the Web site of the Senate Finance Committee.
