Hard and Soft Credit for a Gift

Chad Tessier

When a retirement distribution check is received by a College from a non-alumni, parent couple, how do you best determine which person to assign as the hard credit recipient and which person to assign as the soft credit recipient? The documentation with the check simply stated that it was from the XXXX Family. Do you apply the hard credit for the gift to the Head of Household in this case and soft credit the spouse?

Faith Murray

@Chad Tessier, my first reaction is to say that this would be an excellent opportunity for a thank-you phonecall, inquiring if they have a preference for a name on their acknowledgement for tax purposes. (After all, they may file separately, and if so they still need a tax receipt for IRA gifts.) Once you get that information, make a note that “Spouse A has a Fidelity IRA called 'Smith Family Fund'” so you remember next time. (Attributes work great for storing this information.)

If you are unable to reach them by phone, then you could contact the IRA fund manager and see if you can pry the information from him/her.

All else failing, then I would say, yes, apply it to HOH, but then slip a handwritten note in the thank-you letter, inviting, “Please let us know if the tax receipt needs to be made out to Jim or Jane. Thanks so much for your support!”