IRA Charitable Transfer Is Good Through 2013 / Give up to $100,000 to a charity without tax consequences.

• TOM HERMAN for the Wall St Journal writes:   
Question: Is the provision that allows you to make charitable contributions out of retirement accounts still operative in 2013?

Answer: Yes. But that law has been extended "only through the end of this year," says Ed Slott, an IRA expert and a certified public accountant in Rockville Centre, N.Y. Nobody knows what this provision's fate will be after this year—though it enjoys strong support among charities and in Congress.

Under this provision, those who are 70½ or older can give away as much as $100,000 a year from their individual retirement accounts directly to eligible charities without having to include any of the transfer as part of their gross income. The transfer must be made directly from the IRA to the organization.

Transfers count toward that person's required minimum distribution for the year.

Some people mistakenly think this law applies to both IRAs and 401(k) plans. "It applies only to IRAs," says Barbara Weltman, a tax expert in Vero Beach, Fla., and the author of numerous tax and personal-finance books. An Internal Revenue Service spokesman in Washington confirms that 401(k) plans aren't eligible.

Taxpayers can't deduct any such transfers as charitable donations on their federal income-tax returns. Even so, this provision can be a tax-efficient technique. Since transfers aren't counted as part of adjusted gross income, this provision helps prevent "possible side effects," such as "the loss of itemized tax deductions, phaseout of personal exemptions or credits, additional portions of Social Security being taxable or even the imposition of the new 3.8% surtax on investment income," says Mr. Slott.

For more information, search for "qualified charitable distributions" on the IRS website (www.irs.gov) and look for IRS news release IR-2013-6, dated Jan. 16, 2013.