A Gift That Saves

St. Paul's is able to accept gifts of appreciated securities (stocks, bonds or mutual funds that have been held for more than one year). Gifting appreciated securities is an often overlooked, but very tax effective way to give.

Why Donate Securities?

YOU CAN PAY LESS IN TAXES

If you sell securities for income, you are going to owe capital gains tax of 15 - 20%. If you gift them instead, you don’t pay capital gains tax AND you can also claim an income tax deduction for the full fair market value of the stock at the time of your gift.

YOU CAN GIVE MORE

By gifting appreciated securities, St. Paul’s would receive 15 - 20% more than if you sold the stock and made a cash donation instead.

YOU CAN SAVE MORE

If you want to keep a high-performing stock in your portfolio, you could gift some of your shares to St. Paul’s now, and then immediately purchase more. Now your new shares are at a stepped up cost basis which means you save on capital gains tax down the road if you choose to sell them for income.

Example Scenario

Let's say you have appreciated stock in your portfolio that you originally purchased for $8,000 and is now valued at $15,000. This could be a good stock option for you to make a gift. The stock has almost doubled in value, and you originally paid $8,000 for what now would be a $15,000 gift.

If you would sell this stock, you would have to claim the $15,000 sales price as income and pay capital gains tax on the increase in value from the time it was purchased.

How much would that cost you? Let's pretend you are in the 24% federal income tax bracket. You would owe $3,600 in income tax. This is calculated by taking the total income of $15,000 x .24 federal tax rate = $3,600.

You would also owe $1,050 in capital gains tax. To calculate the capital gains tax owed, you would take the amount the stock has increased in value from the time of purchase which was $7,000 x .15 capital gains tax rate = $1,050. Ouch!

I'm ready! What do I do?

Contact Director of Strategic Giving Dawn Hartman at 724-589-4611 or complete this form. Dawn will then reach out to your financial advisor or broker to facilitate your gift. The process is simple and doesn't take long to complete.