Charitable Donation form 1041

[swacpa]

Hello, I was wondering if in a Trust document, the trust had a non-for-profit organization as a beneficiary, could you claim those as a donation on form 1041 to reduce its taxable income? I keep getting told by another CPA it does, but it seems to me that maybe there is some double benefit being received.

Thank you and best wishes for a good tax season

Steve Anderson

[George4Tacks]

Is the donation being made from income or from corpus? What is the wording of the trust? If it is a beneficiary, my guess is from the assets of the trust (corpus) and not a deduction. 

[qbteachmt]

"could you claim those as a donation" 

Those, what? Are there other beneficiaries?

I'm curious, are you trying to claim as donation the same trust distribution given to the charity as beneficiary, or are there two actions involved: donation and distribution? 

[swacpa]

Thank you for your response. The trust has generated income over the years but it really looks like a distribution of trust principal. There is not much wording to allow the trustee to donate out of income. 

[swacpa]

Thank you for taking the time. There are other beneficiaries. It would be nice to treat some of the distribution as a donation. Do you think if the trust generated income that was not distributed in prior years, I maybe able to claim some of that as a donation? 

[qbteachmt]

"I maybe able to claim some of that as a donation"

If there are other beneficiaries and there is a beneficiary distribution, then just because one of them happens to be qualified for donations doesn't mean you can recharacterize their amount.

For example, if all beneficiaries get $10,000 each, that isn't also donation or split as partly donation, because it's already following the trust directive that everyone gets a beneficial distribution from the trust. The word "distribution" is a specific action, not in lieu of "donation" and not in addition, unless there are two different actions happening.