November Monthly Meeting

"One Shoe Dropping"

Russ A. Willis III, J.D., LL.M

d/b/a Planned Gift Design Services

Last November, after 17 years of near silence, IRS launched the first of four guidance projects interpreting legislation Congress enacted way back in 2006 to "improve accountability" of donor advised funds. The proposed regs are focused on section 4966, which imposes an excise tax on "taxable distributions." For the most part, they are a matter of defining what the statutory terminology is supposed to mean. But there are some unpleasant surprises. Donors serving on advisory committees for field of interest funds or fiscal sponsorships may find that they are limited in what grants they can recommend. Investment advisors may be cut out of managing individual funds altogether. Fund sponsors may have to exercise expenditure responsibility even with respect to distributions to a public charity if a donor sits on the board of the recipient org. In short, the donor advised fund landscape may be changing rather significantly. And this is only the first of four regulatory projects on the near horizon.

Learning Objectives:

-A brief review of what the 2006 statute covers

-Previous informal guidance issued by IRS

-The scope of the four pending regulatory projects

-A dive into the particulars of the proposed regs issued last November

-Some of the public comments submitted

-A discussion of the implications if the proposed regs are finalized

without significant changes

-What all of this implies for the donor advised fund landscape moving

forward

Huge Thank You To This Program's Sponsor!

Session is Approved for 1PT  CE Credit

Program is Approved for one (1) hour of   CE credit