Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust

A Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust (CRAT) is a Planned Giving vehicle defined in §664 of the United States Internal Revenue Code[1] that entails a donor placing a major gift of cash or property into an irrevocable trust. The trust then pays a fixed amount of income each year to the donor or the donor's specified beneficiary. When the donor dies, the remainder of the trust is transferred to the charity.

This article is part of a series on
Taxation in the United States
Federal taxation Alternative minimum tax Capital gains tax Corporate tax Estate tax Excise tax Gift tax Generation-skipping transfer tax Income tax Payroll tax Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Internal Revenue Code (IRC) IRS tax forms Revenue by state History Constitutional authority Taxpayer standing Court Protest Evasion Resistance
State and local taxation State income tax Property tax Sales tax State and local tax deduction Use tax Land value tax State tax levels
Federal tax reform Automated payment transaction tax 9–9–9 Competitive Tax Plan Efficient Taxation of Income FairTax Flat tax Hall–Rabushka flat tax Kemp Commission Taxpayer Choice Act USA Tax Value added tax Border-adjustment tax
United States portal

Charitable trusts such as a CRAT require a trustee. Sometimes the charity is named as trustee, other times it is a third party such as an attorney, a bank or a financial advisor.