New PGMA Release Offers Single Sign-On, Tax Law Changes, and More

On January 13, we sent an email to all PGM Anywhere users announcing that we had updated PGM Anywhere, our online planned gift illustration software, for all our clients. This security-focused release offers clients optional single sign-on and key management (KMS) modules. It also incorporates the federal income tax table for estates and trusts for 2021, updates several narratives to reflect the extension through 2021 of the 100% of AGI deduction limit on gifts of cash to public charities, and fixes some bugs. As always, detailed release notes are available from a link on the PGM Anywhere login screen. Contact PG Calc Client Services at support@pgcalc.com or 888-474-2252 to learn more about adding single sign-on or KMS to your PGM Anywhere account.

Note: To ensure proper delivery of presentations emailed from PGM Anywhere’s Results or Tools screens, we have set “Customize > Chart Options > Emails from Results and Tools should be sent using” to “Send to user” for all clients. See the PGM Anywhere release notes for more details.

PGM Desktop Update Coming Soon With Indexed Tax Tables for 2021

In a few days we will be sending out a new release of Planned Giving Manager that incorporates the indexed federal tax schedules for 2021 to all clients with current service contracts. The indexed tables are used by PGM desktop to compute federal income tax for non-grantor lead trusts and federal gift, estate, and generation skipping tax, where applicable, in testamentary, estate plan, and lead trust models. The release also updates several narratives to reflect the extension through 2021 of the 100% of AGI deduction limit on gifts of cash to public charities. The release email will include update instructions. If you have questions, please contact PG Calc Client Services at support@pgcalc.com or call 888-474-2252.

Tax Reporting for CGAs: Don’t Rush the Process!

The annual tax reporting for charitable gift annuities is basically a two-step process: The first step is sending individual Forms 1099-R to all the annuitants. The second step is sending the same information, in aggregate, to the IRS. The timing for the first step is simple – normally the forms must be postmarked by January 31. This year, the deadline is February 1, because January 31 falls on a weekend.

The timing for the second step, sending aggregated tax information to the IRS, depends on whether the sponsoring organization chooses to file with paper or electronically. If the organization prefers to send paper copies of the 1099-Rs to the IRS – along with Form 1096 – the deadline is March 1 (because February 28 falls on a weekend). This method is still available for organizations that produce fewer than 250 forms. If the organization chooses to submit the 1099-R information to the IRS electronically, the deadline is March 31 (which falls on a weekday this year). Please keep in mind that this method is mandatory for organizations producing 250 or more 1099-Rs.

It stands to reason that any person or team responsible for the tax reporting of CGAs is eager to send out the information as quickly as possible, whether on paper or electronically. But those handling the process should not be too intent on getting started early. For most organizations, notifications of deaths in 2020 and changes of address will continue to arrive well into the new year. We are not suggesting that the process be delayed until the last possible day – there are always plenty of things that can go wrong – but it might be wise to hold off sending the forms until after the middle of January.

On the aggregate side of the tax reporting process, caution over the timing should be exercised as well, because changes of address and notifications of death may continue to arrive even beyond the end of January. It is easy to correct an individual Form 1099-R, which is the only correction needed when made before aggregate information has been filed with the IRS. Once the tax information for the entire CGA program has been sent to the IRS, however, you must correct both the Form 1099-R AND the filing of aggregate information with the IRS. As we said above, we are not recommending that the aggregate tax reporting for the CGA program be delayed until the very last day, but it may be better to wait until a week or two before the actual deadline. As they say, timing is everything!

Death Screening Available for GiftWrap and Bequest Manager

One of the challenges of administering life income gifts is receiving timely notification of an income beneficiary’s death so that you can stop payments or start sending them to a successor beneficiary when you should. Fixing payment mistakes that are the result of delayed notification can be time consuming and awkward for the charity. To help charities avoid this situation, PG Calc now offers a new death screening service for our GiftWrap and Bequest Manager clients. The service conducts a weekly screening of all living persons stored by you in GiftWrap and Bequest Manager. If any are identified as deceased, we provide a list of these people to you, so that you can verify the people on the list are indeed deceased and, if so, update your GiftWrap and Bequest Manager data accordingly. To learn more about PG Calc’s death screening service for GiftWrap or Bequest Manager, please contact Brian Armstrong at 888-474-2252 or barmstrong@pgcalc.com.

Webinars and Online Training Sessions Provide Robust Online Education During COVID

We take our educational role seriously at PG Calc – which is why we have offered monthly educational webinars on gift planning topics for more than a decade. They are a great way to help our clients become better gift planners. This has been especially true while in-person learning opportunities are suspended during the pandemic.

All our webinars include a PDF of the slides and an accompanying paper so that attendees have materials they can refer to anytime, as needed. During the pandemic, all attendees also get unlimited replays of the webinar itself.

Learn about all our 2021 webinars or register for the whole series and save $285!

Satisfaction Survey Results and Raffle Winner

Thanks to the over 400 people who competed our Satisfaction Survey for providing your insights about PG Calc. Your input will inform how we can better serve our clients and what future offerings are of greatest need.

We promised to select one lucky survey responder to win a free year of PGM Service for their organization, or anything else we sell with a value of $735. The lucky winner is Janine Ehsani for Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. Congratulations!

Here are a few key takeaways that we’re learning from the survey responses. We asked responders to describe PG Calc, and this is what you told us:

• 98% consider us “planned giving experts”
• 95% think PG Calc is a good source of planned giving information and best practices
• 92% value our excellent customer service and support

We also asked how likely you are to recommend PG Calc to a friend or colleague. Of those who responded, an incredible 83% said they were very likely and another 16% said they were likely for a total of 99% who would recommend us to a friend or colleague who doesn't use our services. Watch this space for details about our formal client referral program where we lower your service contract for successful referrals!

Dartmouth-Hitchcock/Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine Uses PG Calc's Marketing Services to Successfully Launch Planned Giving Program Amid Pandemic

“We value the attention to our needs, the creativity, and the flexibility that PG Calc's Marketing Services offers. We’ve launched a new planned giving program during a difficult year with excellent materials, thanks to their staff.”

Judi Taylor Cantor
Director of Planned Giving
Dartmouth-Hitchcock &
Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine

Learn more about Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine.

Learn more about PG Calc's Marketing Services.