Tax-Free Gifts From Your IRA

Make a Tax-Free Gift from Your IRA

If you’re 70 ½ or older, each year, you can instruct your IRA administrator to make a Qualified Charitable Distribution (up to $111,000*) directly to Wesleyan and avoid paying the tax had you taken it as income.

An IRA Rollover allows you to make a gift to the University directly from your IRA, pay no taxes on the transfer, and count the gift toward your required minimum distribution (if you are of RMD age).

*adjusted annually for inflation

To Qualify

The Tax-Free Gifts From Your IRA allows donors to exclude certain transfers of Individual Retirement Account (IRA) assets that are made directly to public charities from their taxable income.

  • You must be age 70 ½ or older at the time of gift.
  • Transfers must be made directly from a traditional IRA account by your IRA administrator to Wesleyan. Funds that are withdrawn by you and then contributed do NOT qualify.
  • Gifts from 401k, 403b, SEP and other plans do not qualify.
  • The gift must be completed during the applicable tax year.

How You Benefit

A Tax-Free Gifts From Your IRA makes it easier to use IRA assets, during your lifetime, to make charitable gifts.

  • Your gifts count toward your Required Minimum Distribution but do not count as income for federal income tax purposes.
  • If you’ve already used up your charitable deductions or don’t itemize your deductions, you can still make gifts through tax-free IRA transfers.
  • You can use tax-free IRA rollovers to make any kind of outright gift, including:
    • Wesleyan Fund gifts
    • 50th Reunion gifts
    • Pledge payments
    • Gifts to scholarships or other endowed funds

Maximum Gift

An individual taxpayer’s total Tax-Free Gifts From Your IRA gifts cannot exceed $111,000 per tax year.