PG Calc Blog

These are truly historic times. The United States – along with the rest of the world – is in the grips of a pandemic that most of us could never imagine, even in our worst nightmares. At the time of this writing, the deaths within our borders alone are running into tens of thousands, and the global number of cases is now being counted in millions. Most of the country is under some sort of stay-at-home mandate, our economy has basically sputtered to a crawl, and our stock markets appear to be in a continual free-fall. These are desperate times, when everyday Americans are fearful for their lives, and for the safety and well-being of their loved ones. Beyond those immediate concerns, folks are worried about their jobs and the sudden declines in the values of their retirement accounts. How can we presume that donors will think about planned gifts – or charitable gifts of any kind – at a time like this?

After lingering in limbo in the U.S. Senate for months, the “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement” Act, aka the SECURE Act, was among several bills attached recently to a “must-pass” appropriations bill that was signed into law on December 20, 2019. The SECURE Act includes many changes to the rules governing retirement plans, including several provisions of particular interest to gift planners. All the rules described below became effective on January 1, 2020.

In his State of the Union address in January, President Obama announced his intention to make a new type of Individual Retirement Account (IRA), called a “myRA,” available to certain taxpayers.What does this mean to you in working with planned gift prospects and their advisors? MyRAs would have of the following basic characteristics: MyRAs would be created by the Treasury Department, pursuant to a presidential memorandum dated the day of the address but not actually signed until two days later, whereas existing IRAs are established under the Internal Revenue Code. At least initially, myRAs would be available only to those who work for entities that agree to offer the accounts to their employees. Employers will have some incentive to do this because they would not have to make myRA contributions,