Tax Update – The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH)

Act of 2015 Passes – Tax-Free Gifts from IRA accounts for 70+

IRA Owners

December 2015 Congress has been promising action on a number of tax provisions that expired at the end of 2014. After much delay, on December 18th, Congress approved The Protecting Americans from Tax

Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015. This reauthorizes the IRA charitable rollover and makes it permanent. IRA owners age 70 1/2 and older may transfer up to $100,000 from their IRA to a qualified public charity. The transfer will be made free of federal income tax and the gift qualifies for the donor's 2015 required minimum distribution (RMD).

IRA owners that are over age 70 and want to make a gift from their IRA accounts in 2015 have a few days left to take advantage of this provision, and from now on, this privilege and planning strategy will be available every year.

IRA’s and the PATH Act of 2015 Charitable gifts made directly from an IRA account may be used to; * Satisfy Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) requirements * Can be an income tax planning tool * Might reduce Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) * Are an efficient way to make charitable gifts Many of our clients have used this provision to generously support churches, community groups and other charities that are doing charitable work that is important to them. You may want to consult with your CPA or a qualified advisor to see if this might make sense in your personal situation.

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PATH Act of 2015 has other Planning Opportunities

The PATH Act is long and a laborious read, but buried inside the copious pages of legal jargon lie a few more tax planning opportunities for us. For example, some legal analysts have already pointed out that PATH makes gifts of land for conservation purposes more attractive. We have worked with a number of families that have made conservation gifts, a donation that may provide wonderful financial benefits and powerful and long lasting conservation and environmental impact also. Please call us if you would like to know more about this strategy. There may be more opportunities to save taxes and to take advantage of this new legislation. We will continue to study the PATH Act for our client’s benefit. (By the way, for all of you legislative buffs and CSPAN enthusiasts, you might be interested to know that the PATH Act was released in the form of a House amendment to a Senate amendment to an unrelated spending bill. You can read the bill in its glorious, spellbinding 233 page entirety here: https://gallery.mailchimp.com/4235d015cb1fe489de617cf9c/files/121515_250_xml.pdf ) To editorialize for a moment – it is extremely frustrating that Congress waited until this late in the year to pass this bill. In fact this is the third time in the last few years that they have procrastinated until the week before Christmas to pass a major tax bill. Many families have been waiting and delaying decisions on their RMD’s for 2015 in hopes that this bill might pass. I give our legislator’s a C- grade for their lack of timeliness and for creating what will certainly be a last minute stampede to take advantage of the charitable provision. All complaining aside – we will do all we can to help our clients implement any charitable gifts they might want to make from their IRA accounts before the year-end deadline. If we have not already discussed this, and you are over 70, we would be happy to review this strategy with you. And, undoubtedly, many charities are delighted that this provision has passed as it may lead to a surge in last-minute giving. There are many great groups doing outstanding and vital work to make our communities better, and it is gratifying to see money go to many of these deserving causes. As financial advisors, we feel privileged to play a small part in helping facilitate these important gifts.

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Request from Clients On a complete non-sequitur, a few clients have asked me for a picture of my family – maybe because the family pictures of my children in my office date back to when they were all little tikes. The kids are no longer little, but still as adorable as ever to my wife and I. The three oldest have all done stints in our offices doing admin work, and many have you have met them before. Here is a recent family picture from this summer.

Merry Christmas from the Gevers’ family and from our firm to you & your families! Warm regards, William R. Gevers Financial Advisor

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Copyright 2015 William R. Gevers. All rights reserved.

Gevers Wealth Management, LLC 5825 221st Place SE Suite 102 Issaquah, WA98027 Office: 425.902.4840 Fax: 425.902.4841 Email: wgevers@geverswealth.com The views are those of Gevers Wealth Management, LLC, and should not be construed as individual investment advice. All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however, no representation is made as to its completeness or accuracy. All economic and performance information is historical and not indicative of future results. Investors cannot invest directly in an index. Please consult your financial advisor for more information. Securities and advisory services offered through Cetera Advisor Networks LLC Member FINRA/SIPC. Cetera is under separate ownership from an any other named entity.