Donation of personally owned stocks to church as a donation

[Mountain Accountant]

My client has approximately 1mil in stocks that he will be selling of before the end of 2021.

He asked if donating some of his stocks to his church, as a contribution, he would be able to avoid capital gains on the stocks donated.

Have never been asked this question before so putting it out there for you wise ones to guide my reply to client.

[jeffmcpa2010]

yes.

[Mountain Accountant]

Can he arrange the donation with his stock broker and can you provide instruction as to how his Basis will be determined.

[jeffmcpa2010]

His Broker should be able to handle it. Basis doesn't really come in to play as "Most" times he is entitled to a deduction for the "Fair Market Value" as of the date of the transfer.

Here is an article I found with a simple google search.

https://www.schwabcharitable.org/non-cash-assets/public-traded-securities

[qbteachmt]

That's the difference between Selling, then donating money; and donating the Stock. Don't let him sell until he works out the donation process, because doing it wrong means he didn't accomplish anything.