Читать книгу The Tax Law of Charitable Giving - Bruce Hopkins R., Bruce R. Hopkins, David Middlebrook - Страница 33

Users of certain types of credit cards make a deductible charitable contribution when a percentage of the price of an item (less an administration fee) purchased with the card at a participating retailer is transferred to a charitable organization selected by the cardholder.²¹²

A company sponsors a series of credit and debit cards that are identified with the company's name. These cards are issued to cardholders throughout the country by banks that have entered into license agreements with the company; the banks may charge an annual fee to the cardholders. The company negotiates agreements with retailers, pursuant to which a percentage of the purchase price is transferred to the company when one of these cards is used to purchase an item from a participating retailer. When they first receive their company cards, and periodically thereafter, cardholders receive a list of participating retailers. They also are informed of the percentage of the retail purchase price that each participating retailer will pay to the company. After a sale by a participating retailer to a cardholder, the agreed-upon percentage of the purchase price is transferred to the company by the bank (or its agent) that processes the transaction. Of this amount, an administration fee—approximately 20 percent—is retained by the company.

The balance of the amount transferred to the company is placed in a custodial account maintained by the company on behalf of each cardholder; these amounts are considered to be rebates. When they apply for one of these cards, applicants are asked to designate a charitable organization to which they want to have their rebates paid. Cardholders are free to change the designation at any time by notifying the company. Rebates earned appear as a line item on the cardholders' monthly statements from the issuing banks. If the cardholder returns to the retailer an item of merchandise purchased with one of these cards, the amount of the corresponding rebate is deducted from the rebate amount held in the cardholder's custodial account. At the end of each calendar quarter, the company transfers rebates that have accumulated in the various custodial accounts to the charitable organizations selected by the cardholders. For the fourth calendar quarter, these transfers will be made before the end of the calendar year. The cardholders do not receive anything in exchange for the payments to charitable organizations of their rebates.

Instead of causing the company to pay their rebates to a charitable organization, however, cardholders may obtain the rebates for their personal use. Unless they advise the company of their intention to obtain the rebates for themselves, cardholders' rebates are automatically paid over to the designated charities. When the company makes a payment to a charitable organization on behalf of a cardholder, the company provides the organization with the amount of the cardholder's contribution, together with the cardholder's name and address. The company also provides each cardholder with an annual statement reflecting the total amount transferred to a charitable organization on behalf of that cardholder.

The IRS concluded that these rebates paid to charitable organizations are gifts to the organizations by the cardholders. In finding satisfaction of the requirements that a gift be made voluntarily and with charitable intent, the IRS observed that each cardholder has the choice of directing the company to refund rebates to the cardholder or to transfer them to a charitable organization. Moreover, the cardholders also have the opportunity to select the charitable organizations that will receive payments of their rebates. The IRS ruled that the opportunity to decide whether payments will be made to a charity, together with the ability to designate the charity to receive the payments, renders the payments voluntary. The IRS also ruled that these directed rebates are deductible charitable gifts.²¹³

In connection with another variation of these plans, the IRS ruled that an individual who purchases scrip from a charitable organization and elects to allow the charity to retain an amount of money in the nature of a rebate has made a charitable contribution of that amount. The organization purchases scrip at a discount and sells it at face value to individuals. The purchasers have the option of receiving in cash a portion of the difference between the face value of the scrip and the charity's cost for it. An individual may also elect to allow the charity to retain this amount.²¹⁴