Charitable Giving Planning
Giving to the causes you care about can also be one of the strongest tools in your estate and tax plan, when it's built right. We design charitable plans that support the organizations you believe in, cut income, capital gains, and estate tax, and still provide for your family.
Talk to an attorneyFounded
1965
Attorneys
11
AV-rated
Martindale-Hubbell
Office
Bellevue, WA
Founded
1965
Attorneys
3
AV-rated
Martindale-Hubbell
Office
Bellevue, WA
Charitable giving planning lawyers for Bellevue and Seattle donors
Oseran Hahn helps Pacific Northwest families and business owners give to charity in ways that also work hard for their tax and estate plans. The right structure depends on what you're giving and what you want in return: a charitable remainder trust can turn appreciated stock into lifetime income, a donor-advised fund or private foundation can carry a family's giving across generations, and a gift of appreciated property or an IRA distribution can cut a tax bill in the year it matters. We build the plan around your goals and the assets you actually hold.
Charitable planning works best when the gift and the tax strategy are designed together. We build charitable remainder trusts that turn appreciated assets into an income stream and a deduction. We use charitable lead trusts to move wealth to the next generation at a lower transfer-tax cost. We compare donor-advised funds and private foundations for families who want to give over many years. We structure gifts of appreciated stock, real estate, and business interests. And we put IRA and estate-plan giving to work where it saves the most tax.
Charitable remainder trusts
A charitable remainder trust (IRC 664) is often the centerpiece of a tax-smart gift. You move an appreciated asset, stock, real estate, a business interest, into the trust, it sells the asset without paying capital gains tax, and it pays you or your family an income stream for life or a term of years, with whatever remains going to charity at the end. You get an income tax deduction now for the present value of the charity's future share. We help you choose between a fixed annuity (a CRAT) and a percentage payout that adjusts with the trust's value (a CRUT), and we run the numbers so the income, the deduction, and the gift all line up with what you're trying to do.
Charitable lead trusts
A charitable lead trust runs the other direction: the charity receives the income stream for a set term, and what's left passes to your children or grandchildren at the end, often at a much lower gift or estate tax cost. It's one of the better tools for moving appreciating assets to the next generation while the IRS's assumed interest rate (the IRC 7520 rate) is low, and it pairs naturally with the estate and gift tax planning we do under Washington's $3 million estate tax. We model the term and payout so the charitable deduction (IRC 2522 or 2055) and the amount that ultimately reaches your heirs both come out where you want them.
Donor-advised funds and private foundations
When a family wants to give in a structured way over many years, the question is usually which vehicle fits. A donor-advised fund is simple and inexpensive: you contribute, take the deduction now, and recommend grants over time, with little administration and the option to give anonymously. A private foundation gives you far more control, a board, a name, the ability to hire and run programs, but it comes with real rules: an excise tax on investment income (IRC 4940), a 5 percent annual distribution requirement (IRC 4942), and strict prohibitions on self-dealing (IRC 4941). We help you weigh control against cost and compliance, and we set up and document whichever one fits your family's giving.
Gifts of appreciated stock, real estate, and business interests
How you give matters as much as how much. Giving an appreciated asset you've held more than a year, rather than selling it and donating the cash, lets you skip the capital gains tax and still deduct the full fair market value, subject to the percentage-of-income limits in IRC 170(b). The same logic extends to real estate, closely held stock, and partnership interests, and a bargain sale (IRC 1011(b)) can let you give and recover some cash at once. Gifts of property over modest thresholds need a qualified appraisal and careful substantiation (IRC 170(f)), the kind of detail that gets a deduction disallowed when it's skipped. We handle the structuring and the paperwork so the gift holds up.
IRA gifts, bequests, and beneficiary giving
Some of the most efficient giving happens through the assets people forget about. If you're 70½ or older, a qualified charitable distribution lets you send up to an annual limit straight from your IRA to charity (IRC 408(d)(8)), satisfying your required minimum distribution without the income ever hitting your return. At death, leaving a tax-burdened retirement account to charity and other assets to your family is often far more efficient, because the charity pays no income tax on what would have been income in respect of a decedent (IRC 691). We coordinate charitable bequests and beneficiary designations with the rest of your estate plan and Washington's estate tax charitable deduction (RCW 83.100.046), so the gift does the most good and the most work.
Sixty years of Pacific Northwest estate and tax work, and the judgment to structure a gift so it does right by the cause, your family, and your tax bill at once. We build charitable plans that are generous and precise, the kind that hold up to the IRS and still mean something to the people who inherit them.
The structure decides the tax savings.
The same gift can produce a modest deduction or a large one depending on what you give and how. We match the vehicle to the asset and your goals, so the tax benefit is as big as the law allows.
We give and tax-plan in one motion.
Charitable planning that ignores your estate and income tax picture leaves money on the table. We design the gift, the trust, and the estate plan together, so each one strengthens the others.
We build it to hold up.
Appraisals, substantiation, foundation compliance, the details that get deductions disallowed are the ones we get right. The plan is generous on purpose and built so the deductions actually stick.
The attorneys behindthe work.
Our business and corporate attorneys handle this work alongside our litigation team, so you have coverage whether your matter stays transactional or becomes something more.
What clientsask us first.
Do I lose access to the asset once I give it away?
Not always. With an outright gift, yes, it's gone, and that's the point. But tools like a charitable remainder trust are built to give and keep at once: you contribute the asset, the trust pays you or your family an income stream for life or a term of years, and only the remainder goes to charity. The right structure depends on how much income or access you need to keep.
I want to give appreciated stock instead of cash. Is that better?
Usually, yes. If you've held the stock more than a year, giving it directly lets you avoid the capital gains tax you'd owe on a sale and still deduct its full fair market value, subject to income-percentage limits. Selling first and donating the proceeds wastes the capital gains advantage. The same logic applies to real estate and closely held business interests, though those need more careful structuring.
Should I set up a private foundation or a donor-advised fund?
It depends on how much control you want and how much administration you're willing to take on. A donor-advised fund is simple, inexpensive, and lets you recommend grants over time. A private foundation gives you a board, a name, and real control, but it carries excise taxes, a mandatory annual payout, and self-dealing rules. For many families a donor-advised fund does everything they need; for others the control is worth the cost. We help you decide.
Can charitable giving really reduce my estate tax?
Yes, in more than one way. Assets left to charity at death are deducted from your taxable estate, both for the federal estate tax and Washington's, which has a $3 million exemption and no portability between spouses. Lifetime tools like charitable lead trusts can move appreciation to your heirs at a reduced transfer-tax cost. We coordinate the charitable plan with the rest of your estate plan so the two work together.
What's the smartest asset to leave to charity when I die?
Often a retirement account. An IRA or 401(k) left to family is taxed as income to them, but the same account left to charity passes income-tax-free, because the charity doesn't pay income tax on what's called income in respect of a decedent. Leaving the taxable accounts to charity and the rest to your family is one of the simplest, most overlooked moves in charitable estate planning.
When should I talk to a lawyer about charitable giving?
Before you sell a highly appreciated asset, before a major liquidity event, and whenever your giving is large enough that the tax structure matters as much as the gift. The biggest savings come from planning before the sale or before year-end, not after. If you're weighing a trust, a foundation, or a significant bequest, that's the moment a charitable giving attorney earns their fee several times over.
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Tax-smart charitable trusts, foundations, and giving strategies for Pacific Northwest families and business owners.
Oseran Hahn P.S. · 11225 SE 6th St, Suite 100 · Bellevue, WA 98004
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