Deferred Gift Annuity: The Details
Is this gift right for you?
A deferred gift annuity is for you if…
- You are in high-earnings years, looking for both income tax savings now and an additional source of revenue when you retire.
- You want to make a significant gift to us and receive payments in return.
- You want to maximize the payments you receive from your planned gift — and you want to lower your income tax on those payments.
- You want the security of payments that won't fluctuate during your lifetime.
- You also appreciate the safety of your payments being a general financial obligation of American Heart Association.
Note: If you're 65 or over, you may want to consider a charitable gift annuity.
This version of the charitable gift annuity is especially designed for younger donors. Called the deferred gift annuity, it makes fixed annual payments to you and/or another beneficiary for life, with payments commencing at a future date. Because of the deferral of payments:
- American Heart Association can offer a higher guaranteed payments rate for these annuities than for annuities with payments that start immediately, and
- You may receive a larger charitable income tax deduction than you could get from any other life-income gift plan.
These two features make the deferred gift annuity quite attractive to donors in high-earnings years who are concerned about securing both current tax deductions and additional sources of retirement cash flow.
Use a deferred gift annuity to help plan for retirement
Many donors establish a series of deferred gift annuities over several years, using funds they had already set aside for retirement saving. They set the commencement date for payments from these annuities to coincide with their or their spouse's retirement.
Planning points
The deferred gift annuity offers the same benefits of simplicity, security, and attractive income deductions that the regular gift annuity provides our donors:
- Your deferred annuity is a contract between American Heart Association and you, and your annuity payments are an obligation backed by our corporate assets;
- You secure a charitable income tax deduction based on the market value of the assets you contributed, minus the payments you retained;
- You avoid all up-front capital gains taxes. If you fund your deferred gift annuity with appreciated securities, only a portion of your gain is recognized, with the tax spread over your annuity payments;
- Part of each annuity payment to you is tax-free;
- The difference between our costs for maintaining your annuity payments and the size of your gift provides a generous gift to American Heart Association in support of our overall mission.
- A deferred gift annuity at American Heart Association can be made with a gift of $10,000 or more.
Note: If you're 65 or over, you may want to consider a charitable gift annuity.
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