Throughout the year, many of you will be reviewing your tax liability situation with your CPA or other advisors. Now is the time to plan a gift to help reduce the taxes you may need to pay.

A gift to Emerald High School of appreciated securities or mutual fund shares offers dual benefits: you will be helping our non-profit organization and you will get a tax deduction.

With any stock sale, you owe taxes on the capital gain, which are generally charged at a rate of 20%. But when you donate publicly traded stocks held long-term (owned for more than one year) to a qualified charitable organization, such as ours, you avoid all capital gains taxes. Plus, you may take the full fair market value of the stock gift as a charitable deduction on your income taxes. The maximum deduction you may take within a given tax year is 30% of your adjusted gross income. If you are unable to take the entire deduction in one year, you may carry the excess deduction forward for five additional years.

Please note: You will want to check in with your financial advisor/brokerage to see how it specifically works for you!