News Archive
William J. Dale, '71 Touts IRA as Efficient Vehicle to Give Generously
03/04/2019
For the past 23 years, William J. Dale, Jr., ’71, has enjoyed teaching IU McKinney law students in a Seminar in Business and Estate Planning as an adjunct professor.
He relishes students’ questions about his favorite subject. Teaching, “really keeps you on your toes,” he says.
Dale feels honored to teach at his alma mater, perhaps more so because he believes that the late Professor Lawrence A. Jegen III recommended him. “You should get a star on your diploma if you took tax from Professor Jegen,” he says.
A principal member of the Indianapolis firm Dale & Eke, he is a Board-certified Indiana Trust and Estate Lawyer by the Trust and Estate Specialty Board. Dale is a member of the American, Indiana and Indianapolis Bar Associations, the Indiana CPA Society and a past president of the Estate Planning Council of Indianapolis. He is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, the American College of Tax Counsel, the Indiana Bar Foundation, and a Distinguished Fellow of the Indianapolis Bar Foundation. He is listed in Indiana SuperLawyers® and selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in the area of Trusts and Estates.
Yet with all his years of experience, Dale still can’t explain why people avoid estate planning, or do not take simple steps toward making charitable contributions.
For example, Dale advocates taking advantage of a simple way to benefit IU McKinney and receiving tax benefits in return. If you are 70½ years old or older, you can give up to $100,000 from your IRA directly to a qualified charity without having to pay income taxes on the money.
If you have not yet taken your required minimum distribution for the year, your IRA Qualified Charitable Distribution can satisfy all or part of that requirement. You can give any amount under this provision, as long as it is $100,000 or less in one year.
Dale, who has made giving to IU McKinney part of his annual charitable routine for 25 years, has made his gift in this way since he became old enough to do so.
“The Qualified Charitable Distribution is a great vehicle,” Dale says. “You pay no income taxes on the gift. The transfer generates neither taxable income nor a tax deduction, so you benefit even if you do not itemize your deductions. That may be especially important to more people now, with recent tax reforms in effect.”
Be sure to let Nan Edgerton, assistant dean for development, know if you decide to follow Bill's example and support IU McKinney from your IRA. She can give you and your IRA administrator special instructions for this kind of gift. You can reach her at nanedge@iu.edu or 317-274-8147. .
“It’s just a very efficient way to give your money to a cause you believe in,” Dale says.
