Sharon: Years ago, I inherited stock from my grandmother. Earlier this year, we decided to sell some of the stock. After we sold the stock, our CPA told us we would need to pay capital gains of nearly $120,000 from the sale.

Jim: That came as kind of a shock. Our CPA started to talk about ways we could offset the capital gains tax bill. We told him we were planning on making charitable gifts. Our CPA advised us that if we gave some of the remaining stock before the end of the year, we could receive a charitable deduction that would help offset the capital gains tax on the stock we sold.

Sharon: We contacted our favorite charity to discuss the best way to make a gift of stock. The gift planner explained the process and provided us with instructions that allowed our broker to directly transfer stock from our account to the charity's brokerage account.

Jim: That is what we decided to do. By transferring $80,000 in stock outright to charity, we received two benefits. First, we avoided a large capital gains tax on that stock, and second, we received a charitable deduction. The deduction even offset all of the capital gains from the stock sale. We are very pleased with the double benefits of our gift. And, we're delighted that we've been able to make a nice charitable contribution.