Webcast: Tax Tuesday With Ed Zollars - Charitable Contribution Issures: Keeping Inside the Lines

Overview

The compliance margin for charitable contributions has collapsed to near zero, making it more critical than ever for advisors to understand the strict statutory guardrails. Mechanical technicalities—such as omitting cost basis on Form 8283, missing a goods-or-services statement on a doner acknowledgment, or using an entity rather than a qualified individual as an appraiser—now routinely cost donors their entire tax deduction. Furthermore, the IRS penalty architecture is unforgiving; even if a taxpayer successfully leverages the "reasonable cause" defense to salvage a deduction, they are statutorily barred from using it to escape a 40% gross valuation misstatement penalty if the contributed property is substantially overvalued.

To protect your clients from these devastating outcomes, this course offers a comprehensive roadmap for navigating the complexities of charitable contribution substantiation. You will dive deep into the mandatory reporting elements across all statutory tiers, unpack the strict requirements of Treas. Reg. § 1.170A-17, and explore the evolving landscape of conservation easements, including recent circuit splits and SECURE 2.0 Act limitations. By evaluating forensic case studies and mastering a best-practices checklist, you will be equipped to prevent fatal errors, conduct necessary good-faith investigations, and ensure that your clients' valuation judgments and tax positions remain safely inside the lines.

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Join Ed Zollars each month for a deep dive into the current happenings in the world of tax. This series program will meet nearly every month between May 2026 and April 2027.

Looking for the full series? Register at www.ascpa.com/taxtuesday

Highlights

• The Tiered Documentation Framework: Mastering the mandatory substantiation and attachment rules for noncash contributions across the $250, $500, $5,000, and $500,000 thresholds.
  
• Qualified Appraisals and Appraisers: Understanding the strict requirements under Treas. Reg. § 1.170A-17, including the 11 mandatory appraisal elements and the individual credentialing paths required to prevent deduction disallowance.
  
• Forensic Case Studies and the Strict Compliance Divide: Analyzing WT Art Partnership LP v. Commissioner and other recent rulings to understand why courts are moving away from the "substantial compliance" doctrine for procedural foot-faults.
  
• Conservation Easements: Navigating the statutory reckoning of conservation easements, including the SECURE 2.0 Act's 2.5x-basis disallowance rule, proceeds-regulation circuit splits, and new syndicated-easement regulations.
  
• IRS Penalty Architecture and Reasonable Cause: Evaluating the triggers for 20% substantial and 40% gross valuation misstatement penalties, and understanding why the "reasonable cause" defense is legally unavailable for gross overvaluations of charitable property.

Designed For

Any accounting professional looking to stay ahead of tax changes impacting their organizations and clients.

Notice

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