If you have appreciated stock or mutual funds, donating these to the Church may provide you with tax advantages beyond what you would receive by selling them and donating the proceeds.

Donating appreciated stock or mutual funds lets you save on your taxes in two ways: you avoid capital gains tax (usually 15%) on the appreciation, and you also can take a tax deduction on the value of the shares you donated.

A “capital gain” is the profit you make when you sell a share of stock. For example, if you buy stock for $1,000 and sell it more than year later for $1500, your capital gain is $500.

A “capital gains tax” is the tax you have to pay on that profit when you sell that stock.  In the case above, you would owe capital gains tax on the profit incurred by the sale.   However, if you donate this stock instead of selling it, neither you nor the charity have to pay taxes on it.

And, like most charitable contributions, stock or mutual fund donations are tax deductible. That means that when you file federal taxes, you can deduct the donation at the current market value ($1,500 in the example above) from your taxable income if you itemize your deductions.

When you have stocks that are worth less than you paid for them it is wiser to sell them first and claim a capital loss.

The Church accepts donations of publicly traded stock, bonds or mutual fund shares. If you are considering this type of donation, please contact plannedgiving@ucg.org to get the name of the Church’s brokerage firm to execute the transfer from your broker.