Retirement Plan Assets

All you need to do to make a gift of retirement plan assets is designate St. Perpetua Catholic Church as a beneficiary on the form provided by the company that manages your IRA, 401k, or other retirement plan. Such gifts avoid income taxes and estate taxes allowing you to efficiently fulfill your charitable objectives.

To name St. Perpetua Church as the beneficiary, the following language should be used:

Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland, a corporation sole for further credit to (St. Perpetua Church) for its (general purposes).

You may similarly designate the funds to go the the St. Perpetua School and can designate a specific purpose if you desire. However, if you wish to designate something other than general purposes, it is best to check with the church office to make sure the wording in the bequest will direct your donation according to your wishes.

If you are nearing or have reached 70 1/2, you are required to make a minimum required distribution each year from an IRA and some other retirement accounts. Check with your tax adviser as you may be able to satisfy that requirement by transferring funds from your retirement account directly to a qualified charity and avoid recognizing the transferred funds as taxable income. As you know, tax laws are always changing and as of this writing, rules affecting charitable transfers from an retirement account are in a state of flux. So check with your tax adviser to make sure you will be in compliance with current tax rules before taking any action.

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