The DAFs Strike Back

As the use of donor advised funds grows, so does the legal attention to donor advised funds.   All of this attention started in (what seems like forever ago…) 2006, with the passage of the Pension Protection Act.   Since that time, we have seen the PPA-mandated Treasury study released in 2011, as well as a Congressional Research Service study on DAFs in 2012.   In addition, the National Philanthropic Trust releases an annual DAF report, the 2016 version of which can be found here.   Information and opinions abound, and yet, we still wait patiently for regulations under the donor advised fund excise taxes passed in 2006.  I’m quite certain those regulations will be arriving Soon.™ 

In the latest installment in the DAF oversight drama, Congress may now be considering mandatory payouts from DAFs as part of a larger tax reform effort.   Earlier this summer, Professors Ray Madoff of Boston College and Roger Colinvaux of Catholic University wrote to the Senate Finance committee to suggest a number of DAF reforms, including a mandatory payout proposal for DAFS (the Madoff/Colinvaux letter can be found here).

This week, the DAFs responded.  In their own letter to Senate Finance, a number of DAF sponsors set out the arguments in opposition to a mandatory DAF payout.   WealthMangement.com has a good summary of the DAF executive letter here, although I admit I can’t yet find a copy of the letter itself (if anyone has it ... please share if you can!)   

Personally, I think that the term “DAF” covers such a wide variety of accounts that a mandatory proposal might be harmful for some and yet not enough regulation for others.   But that’s another blog post, or maybe an article ….

EWW