Charitable Giving Information

Cancer Donations As Wedding Favors

Question: Pink Ribbon (breast cancer) theme for wedding?

I am getting married next summer and would like to have pink as our color in honour of breast cancer awareness. My mom is a survivor and recieved excellent health care during her battle. We would like to make a donation to the Canadian Cancer Society with the money we will recieve as well. I’m looking for ideas on how we can tie this theme into our wedding…..ie: favors, invitations, etc.

Thanks!

Answer: my mum is waiting for the result of her biopsy right now! scary times for us, as you well know. so glad your mum is a survivor! good on her! i hope my mum is as lucky!
for my dad's last birthday my mum did a 50/50 draw where all the guests bought tickets and the winning ticket holder received half the prize money and told us what charity they wanted the other half of the money to go to.
with approximately fifty guests, we ended up with over two hundred and twenty dollars - half went to our neighbour and he chose the other half to the stroke foundation to receive the other half! it was a pretty cool idea, and yours is even better.
so, i agree with the others - you don't want to go overboard with the pink ribbon thing, it is your wedding not a benefit. however you could have envelopes and donation cards at each table at the reception and ask your guests if they could each spare 'just two dollars' to tuck it in the envelope with their name and address. you'd be surprised at how many will put a couple of dollars in an envelope! and it all adds up! have a close friend or family member go round and pick up envelopes and put them in a safe place.
you could have one or two dances throughout the evening and the d.j. announces if someone wants to dance with the bride or groom, they put a buck in the pot towards c.c.s.
you could have a 50/50 draw! lol
there are lots of ways of doing it without making your entire wedding about cancer!
as for your wedding finery, wear a pink ribbon close to your heart, for your mum, and have your wedding party do the same!
have a great marriage!

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Charity Trust Deed

Question: Should Larry Ellison retire too?

Sould Larry Ellison, the flamboyant and attention hungry CEO of Oracle retire and spend his billions on philantrophy?
Do you think Bill Gates is doing a good deed by deciding to spend 90% of his fortune on his charity foundation (Bill and Melinda Gates Trust)?

Answer: To me, it's up to Larry Ellison. If he wants to hoard his money, that's his choice. He's relatively unknown compared to Bill Gates, so most of the population isn't going to notice. It would be nice if he did, but if he doesn't, I don't think most people will care.

I think Gates did do a good thing with his foundation rather than handing all of it down when he died to his children. Even .1% is more than enough for them. Inheriting tons of money leads to spoiled children who ruin the business anyway. Warren Buffett is also planning on giving almost all of his money away to charity. It's relatively popular thing. They can't spend all of the money so might as well put it to good use.

Prince's Trust inspires more noble charity

Tax Planning Tips For 2009

If a person dies possessed of property, the law imposed estate tax if the property has a fair market value above $2 million. Property valued less than that is not subject to estate tax. Estate tax is levied both at the federal and state levels. The high rate of taxation takes away nearly forty-five percent of the estate of the deceased. Most people suffer such high taxes because they are unaware of the ways and tax planning techniques that can avoid or help to considerably reduce the estate tax burden.

There are no federal estate tax structure of two million dollars in 2007 will rise to 3.5 million in 2009 and will be totally eliminated in 2010. 2011 may find estate tax back with an exemption limit of $1000000 if the Congress does not pass a law for a full repeal.

At present, there are some steps that a person can take to effectively reduce estate taxes that may be applicable to his estate after his demise.

a) Take advantage of the estate tax exemption twice- If married, each spouse is entitled to an exemption of $2 million dollars on estate tax. This means that the total exemption available to a couple is $4 million. Usually people do not take any steps before the death of one partner and all assets automatically pass on to the other at the first death by virtue of the provision of marital deduction. Since there is no limit on marital deduction, there is no estate tax payable whatever be the size of the estate. However, the exemption of $2 million is wasted .

On the death of the surviving spouse, the entire estate is taxed, allowing an exemption of just the $2million attributable to the last dying spouse. With due planning, one can form a family trust which will allow availing the benefit of the $2 million exemption available to the spouse who died first giving a total exemption of $4 million.

b) Form a life insurance trust- Proceeds from a life insurance policy are subject to estate tax. By establishing a life insurance trust, a person other than the insured is made the owner of the policy. Usually it is the spouse or child or any other beneficiary. When the insured dies, this owner/beneficiary/trustee invests the trust funds i.e. the insurance proceeds and manages the trust for the benefit of other beneficiaries. Forming an insurance trust can cost below $1000 but can save substantially on estate tax, which can take away nearly half the proceeds if the size of the estate is above the exemption limit.

c) Gift part of your estate- If you are in an advanced age and have lifestyle and expenditure that is within your means, it may be sensible make gifts out of your estate to the people you intend leaving your estate to when you are no more. This would greatly reduce the size of the estate and may bring it within the limits of exemption. This technique may not be proper if you are still young would like your kids to benefit from inheritance in other ways.

d) Form a family liability company- This technique can be combined with the exemptions on gifts to effectively provide a solution to avoid paying estate taxes. If you have a business or property valued at say one million dollars, you can create a Family Limited Liability company where you contribute the property exchanging it for limited liability ownership units. If you break it into one hundred and fifty membership units each is valued at about $6667. These units would be eligible for marketability and/or minority discounts. When you gift these units, you can bring down the value of annual gifts within the exclusion limits by applying these discounts.

For example, when you gift two units to a child, the child would come to have a minority interest in the company. In addition, unlike publicly traded shares there is no real market for the units. Therefore discounts can be applied to the gift to bring their value within the exemption limit of $12000 even though the total value of the gifted units would appear be (6667 x 2) $13,333. These are advanced techniques and should be considered only in consultation with an expert in estate taxes.

These are just some of the ways to save estate taxes. Your estate lawyer would be able to provide you with more/apt solutions that may be suitable to your situation.

About the Author:

Sacramento CPA firms offers Estate Tax Planning to individuals and businesses. We have former IRS auditors who know the system to make sure you only get the best advice. Discover a bevy or articles at : http://www.april15.com.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Tips To Curtail Your Estate Taxes

“Tactical Planning in the 2009 Economy!” (aired 2/18/09)

Tax Planning Guide

Question: guide me in my investment !?

i am planning to invest 1 lakh and my investment should have tax exemption.i dont want to invest on LIC / Mutual funds and my limitations for this investment is that I must get returns for my investment in less than 5 years . anywayz i can invest on mutual funds but by seeing current market scenario , i dont prefer doing it.my friends have suggested some options like NSC / Fixed deposit etc but i am cofused to select the appropriate one which suits me.

Answer: if u had provided your age and risk appetite then it would have been better. no matter, u can invest in FD"s but they will not provide you tax exemption. nsc does provide yo,tax benifit but returns are not that good. your friend who have suggested you not to invest in mutual funds are wrong as i think that your investment horizon is 5 years we have spent more than an year in bear market and i think upto 2010 it will be over. as our economic funda's are strong. if you are a long term investor like 5 years or more then go for mutual funds. you can choose mutual funds which invest upto 60% in debt and 40% in equity. there are many mumtual funds with various debt equity mixture's like 50-50 70-30 etc . chose according to your need.do go for frontline mutual funds like reliance vision, birla sl frontline equity dspml tiger etc. because they invest in bluechips which are the first to recover in a bear market. finally even now if u don't wanna invest in MF's u can go for bonds of REC NABARD etc u can also go for debt mutual funds. don't forget invetsing in gold may also be a very good option. but be sure to enter at good levels. hope all that helped u

FREE TAX PLANNING GUIDE

Christmas Donations Denver

Born on May 29, 1984, Carmelo Anthony attended college at Syracuse and currently plays for the NBA’s Denver Nuggets. As a freshman in college, he was named Second-Team All America by the Associated Press. Anthony led the team to the school’s inaugural NCAA Championship in men’s basketball. In addition, Carmelo Anthony was named as the Most Outstanding Player of the 2003 Final Four and East Regional.

Carmelo Anthony began his professional basketball career in 2003 after being drafted third by the Denver Nuggets. During an outstanding rookie season, Anthony played in all 82 seasonal games and averaged 21 points per game. He received a unanimous vote for the NBA All-Rookie First Team and became the first NBA rookie to lead a playoff team in scoring since the 1989-1990 season. In 2004, he won a bronze medal as a member of Team USA during the 2004 Summer Olympics.

During the 2004-2005 season, Carmelo Anthony played and started in 75 games and averaged 20.8 points. In late December, he missed five games due to a sprained ankle, first one the left and another on the right. Earlier that month, he scored the 2,000th point of his career and became the third youngest player in NBA history to reach that milestone. During the 2005-2006 season, Carmelo Anthony averaged an impressive 26.5 points per game, 4.90 rebounds and 2.7 assists.

Off of the court, Carmelo Anthony has shown his dedication extends well beyond basketball as he believes in giving back to the community. In an effort to aid in the Asian Tsunami relief efforts, Carmelo Anthony agreed to donate $1,000.00 for every point scored against San Antonio during a January 8, 2005 game and also against Houston on January 9, 2005. When all was said and done, that donation totaled $35,000.00. In addition, he hosted ‘A Very Melo Christmas,’ which brought joy to hundreds of children who participated in a festive holiday party.

Standing 6’8″ tall and weighing 230 lbs., his full name is Carmelo K. Anthony. He has two brothers, one sister, and two dogs. Fans who would like to request a signed photo or simply send Carmelo Anthony their best wishes are urged to do so in care of his NBA franchise team. If you are requesting an autograph, be sure to include a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) along with your request. Popular items to have signed include blank index cards, trading cards and photographs. It is recommended that fans not send any item that they cannot afford to lose, such as prized possessions and/or limited edition collectibles. As with all mailed autograph requests, there is no guarantee of a reply. For this reason, many fans simply prefer to request a signed photo. Depending on the athlete’s schedule, autographs may be authentic, secretarial, pre-printed or even impossible to provide. Patience is the key to requesting autographs by mail, especially when you are talking about an athlete as popular as Carmelo Anthony. Letters and requests should be mailed to:

Carmelo Anthony
Denver Nuggets
Pepsi Center
1000 Chopper Place
Denver, CO 80204

About the Author:

Read complete Carmelo Anthony biography or see recent Carmelo Anthony pictures and many other fan resource on Carmelo Anthony fan site http://www.carmelo-anthony.org

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Carmelo Anthony Denver Nuggets

2007 KYGO Christmas Crusade for Children with Fox 31