Tax cut fine print

You may be relieved the fiscal cliff discussion is over.

But the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey wants to bring your attention to some of the fine print of the tax cuts approved by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama last week.

In particular, it wants those 70 1/2 or older who are taking a minimum distribution from their IRAs to know that they are again allowed to donate the distribution directly to charity and “it won’t count toward your taxable income,” according to Robin Rochlin, the managing director of the federation’s endowment foundation.

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Rollovers now are allowed for 2013 – and, retroactively, for 2012.

But to have the rollover count for the 2012 tax year, the paperwork must be completed before the end of January.

For more information, call Rochlin at (201) 820-3970 or email her at robinr@jfnnj.org.

The federation said that its efforts to maintain the charitable tax deduction – through its representatives at the Jewish Federation of North America – were successful.

The bill does reinstate the so-called “Pease limitation,” which imposes a so-called haircut of 3 percent of income in excess of $300,000 on certain itemized deductions, including the charitable contribution deduction. This provision first was introduced into the tax law in 1990, and according to JFNA it has had minimal impact on the level of charitable giving.