ziggy29
Moderator Emeritus
Since my wife is a pastor and we live in a parsonage, we don't own our home, we have no property taxes or mortgage interest. We don't nearly have enough medical or other expenses to be "miscellaneous" Schedule A deductions. We haven't itemized in 10 years, and in every year, charitable contributions would have been the single largest item on our Schedule A. If we could lump 2-3 years of these together into one year, we could itemize and save on taxes.
But there are years when charitable deductions *almost* get us over the hump. And I was thinking: What if we contributed (say) $25K into one of these every several years, and then put money aside into a designated savings account so a few years later, we can replenish it in amounts that are enough to get a tax break?
Does anyone use a charitable trust like this? I know Schwab has sent me stuff about this since I'm a customer of theirs, and they charge basically the lesser of $100 a year or 0.6%. Any experiences or opinions? It would be nice to get a bit of a break if we can, though it won't really affect how we give.
But there are years when charitable deductions *almost* get us over the hump. And I was thinking: What if we contributed (say) $25K into one of these every several years, and then put money aside into a designated savings account so a few years later, we can replenish it in amounts that are enough to get a tax break?
Does anyone use a charitable trust like this? I know Schwab has sent me stuff about this since I'm a customer of theirs, and they charge basically the lesser of $100 a year or 0.6%. Any experiences or opinions? It would be nice to get a bit of a break if we can, though it won't really affect how we give.