Cross-Border Charitable Contributions

The tax treatment of cross-border charitable contributions increasingly concerns both individuals and corporations. Individuals make donations of money, financial, and nonfinancial assets, including intellectual property, time, and skills on their own or someone else's behalf to support communities all over the world. Corporate social responsibility is important to many international businesses as an element of brand-building and, more generally, as a means of matching corporate operations with stakeholder values. Contributions support causes such as science, education, health, the environment, safety, and many others around the globe. From the donor's perspective, the deductibility of a contribution to a foreign recipient in the donor country is a key factor in maximizing the amount available for the actual charitable purpose along with minimizing the need for intermediaries and tax exemption in the recipient country. Seminar H at the 2012 IFA Congress in Boston will focus on the income tax treatment of cross-border charitable and other pro bono contributions from individual and corporate donors