[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 557 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 557

     To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand tax-free 
   distributions from individual retirement accounts for charitable 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 10, 2011

Mr. Schumer (for himself, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Burr, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Brown of 
Ohio, Mr. Levin, Mr. Johnson of South Dakota, Mr. Pryor, Mr. Leahy, and 
 Mrs. Gillibrand) introduced the following bill; which was read twice 
                and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand tax-free 
   distributions from individual retirement accounts for charitable 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Public Good IRA Rollover Act of 
2011''.

SEC. 2. TAX-FREE DISTRIBUTIONS FROM INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS FOR 
              CHARITABLE PURPOSES.

    (a) In General.--Paragraph (8) of section 408(d) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to tax treatment of distributions) is 
amended to read as follows:
            ``(8) Distributions for charitable purposes.--
                    ``(A) In general.--No amount shall be includible in 
                gross income by reason of a qualified charitable 
                distribution.
                    ``(B) Qualified charitable distribution.--For 
                purposes of this paragraph, the term `qualified 
                charitable distribution' means any distribution from an 
                individual retirement account--
                            ``(i) which is made directly by the 
                        trustee--
                                    ``(I) to an organization described 
                                in section 170(c), or
                                    ``(II) to a split-interest entity, 
                                and
                            ``(ii) which is made on or after the date 
                        that the individual for whose benefit the 
                        account is maintained has attained--
                                    ``(I) in the case of any 
                                distribution described in clause 
                                (i)(I), age 70\1/2\, and
                                    ``(II) in the case of any 
                                distribution described in clause 
                                (i)(II), age 59\1/2\.
                A distribution shall be treated as a qualified 
                charitable distribution only to the extent that the 
                distribution would be includible in gross income 
                without regard to subparagraph (A) and, in the case of 
                a distribution to a split-interest entity, only if no 
                person holds an income interest in the amounts in the 
                split-interest entity attributable to such distribution 
                other than one or more of the following: the individual 
                for whose benefit such account is maintained, the 
                spouse of such individual, or any organization 
                described in section 170(c).
                    ``(C) Contributions must be otherwise deductible.--
                For purposes of this paragraph--
                            ``(i) Direct contributions.--A distribution 
                        to an organization described in section 170(c) 
                        shall be treated as a qualified charitable 
                        distribution only if a deduction for the entire 
                        distribution would be allowable under section 
                        170 (determined without regard to subsection 
                        (b) thereof and this paragraph).
                            ``(ii) Split-interest gifts.--A 
                        distribution to a split-interest entity shall 
                        be treated as a qualified charitable 
                        distribution only if a deduction for the entire 
                        value of the interest in the distribution for 
                        the use of an organization described in section 
                        170(c) would be allowable under section 170 
                        (determined without regard to subsection (b) 
                        thereof and this paragraph).
                    ``(D) Application of section 72.--Notwithstanding 
                section 72, in determining the extent to which a 
                distribution is a qualified charitable distribution, 
                the entire amount of the distribution shall be treated 
                as includible in gross income without regard to 
                subparagraph (A) to the extent that such amount does 
                not exceed the aggregate amount which would have been 
                so includible if all amounts in all individual 
                retirement plans of the individual were distributed 
                during the taxable year and all such plans were treated 
                as 1 contract for purposes of determining under section 
                72 the aggregate amount which would have been so 
                includible. Proper adjustments shall be made in 
                applying section 72 to other distributions in such 
                taxable year and subsequent taxable years.
                    ``(E) Special rules for split-interest entities.--
                            ``(i) Charitable remainder trusts.--
                        Notwithstanding section 664(b), distributions 
                        made from a trust described in subparagraph 
                        (G)(i) shall be treated as ordinary income in 
                        the hands of the beneficiary to whom is paid 
                        the annuity described in section 664(d)(1)(A) 
                        or the payment described in section 
                        664(d)(2)(A).
                            ``(ii) Pooled income funds.--No amount 
                        shall be includible in the gross income of a 
                        pooled income fund (as defined in subparagraph 
                        (G)(ii)) by reason of a qualified charitable 
                        distribution to such fund, and all 
                        distributions from the fund which are 
                        attributable to qualified charitable 
                        distributions shall be treated as ordinary 
                        income to the beneficiary.
                            ``(iii) Charitable gift annuities.--
                        Qualified charitable distributions made for a 
                        charitable gift annuity shall not be treated as 
                        an investment in the contract.
                    ``(F) Denial of deduction.--Qualified charitable 
                distributions shall not be taken into account in 
                determining the deduction under section 170.
                    ``(G) Split-interest entity defined.--For purposes 
                of this paragraph, the term `split-interest entity' 
                means--
                            ``(i) a charitable remainder annuity trust 
                        or a charitable remainder unitrust (as such 
                        terms are defined in section 664(d)) which must 
                        be funded exclusively by qualified charitable 
                        distributions,
                            ``(ii) a pooled income fund (as defined in 
                        section 642(c)(5)), but only if the fund 
                        accounts separately for amounts attributable to 
                        qualified charitable distributions, and
                            ``(iii) a charitable gift annuity (as 
                        defined in section 501(m)(5)).''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall apply 
to distributions made in taxable years beginning after December 31, 
2010.
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