Comments on: Donating Stock To Charity

By: Chester

Chester — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 01:51:40 +0000

I looked at a site called donateguide.com They have a sample calculation of how the math works by donating appreciated stock versus cash.

By: Kristine

Kristine — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 20:33:25 +0000

This is a great post. As a CPA, I recommend that clients donate appreciated stock rather than cash whenever appropriate. This works best for clients in higher tax brackets.

Don’t forget that the long term cap gain drops to 0% in 2008 for taxpayers in the 10 and 15% tax brackets. This strategy won’t make sense for people in the lowest bracket in 2008, but cap gains are expected to go back up to the pre-2003 Tax Act levels in 2009, so donating appreciated stock will be a good strategy again after 2008.

Thanks again for the post!

By: Angie

Angie — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 20:27:59 +0000

Great article Jim. It reminds me a lot of how I go about giving donations for charity via stockpile for almost nothing. Thanks for expanding my thinking on this topic.

By: jim

jim — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:59:20 +0000

Ooooh that’s a great idea, donate the odd lots you might have from spinoffs…

By: dong

dong — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:43:21 +0000

I did this earlier this year. Didn’t cost a thing via E*Trade. I imagine it’s true of other brokerages. It’s a great way getting rid of odd lots. I did this with a bunch spinoff shares that would’ve been expensive to sell.

By: MFJ

MFJ — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:38:13 +0000

Do you know the logistics involved in actually transferring the stock from your brokerage to the charity? Could there possibly be additional fees to be considered in transferring the security over to the charity? Sounds like a great tool, just curious if there are any gotchas in the details of completing the transaction (fees, considerable paperwork)