HOW TO GIVE

Charitable Lead Trust

A charitable lead trust is an excellent way to pass on some of your assets to your family while reducing or eliminating gift or estate taxes.

Benefits of a Charitable Lead Trust

Receive a gift or estate tax charitable deduction.

Pass inheritance on to family at a reduced or zero cost.

Establish a vehicle from which you can make annual gifts to charity.

How a Charitable Lead Trust Works

You make a contribution of your property to fund a trust that pays Boys & Girls Clubs of Kootenai County income for a number of years.

You receive a gift or estate tax deduction at the time of your gift.

After a period of time, your family receives the trust assets plus any additional growth in value.

Option: Zero Tax Plan

It may be possible to set up a lead trust that will allow you to transfer assets to your family with zero transfer taxes. The IRS assumes that a lead trust is only earning at the current low federal rate. If the actual investments of the trust produce a higher return than the payments made to Boys & Girls Clubs over the term of the trust, then the full value of the trust may be transferred to family with zero gift tax.

Option: FLP / Lead Trust Plan

To discount your gift to family even more, you may consider first transferring your real estate or other assets into a family limited partnership (FLP) which will fund your lead trust. The combination of the FLP, the lead trust, and a gift exemption can permit the lead trust to pay you an income for a number of years and potentially transfer substantial assets tax-free to your family.

Option: Increasing Payment Lead Trust

With increased volatility in the stock market you may also want to consider creating a lead trust that makes fixed payments of increasing amounts to us over time. Because the payments to us are fixed, your family ultimately benefits from any growth in the trust. Low payouts in early years allows the trust to grow, thus allowing protection should the economy produce below-average returns in the future.

If you have any questions about charitable lead trusts, please contact us. We would be happy to assist you and answer any questions you might have.