Yes — if you are at least 70½, you can send money straight from your IRA to a qualifying charity and keep the entire amount off your tax return. The IRS calls this a qualified charitable distribution, and it is the cleanest way of donating an RMD to charity to avoid taxes on the withdrawal. In 2026 you can move up to $111,000 this way, and every dollar transferred counts toward satisfying your required minimum distribution while being excluded from your gross income.1Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs, as Adjusted for Changes in Cost-of-Living
Who Can Use a QCD
Eligibility starts at age 70½. That is earlier than the age at which RMDs actually begin. Under SECURE Act 2.0, RMDs start at 73 for people who turned 72 after December 31, 2022.2Congress.gov. Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) Rules for Original Owners So there is a window between 70½ and 73 when you can make tax-free charitable transfers even though the government is not yet forcing any withdrawal at all.
Traditional IRAs, rollover IRAs, and inherited IRAs all work. SEP and SIMPLE IRAs qualify only if the plan is inactive — no employer contributions for the plan year ending within your tax year.3Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1040 and 1040-SR Money in a 401(k) or other workplace plan does not qualify directly; you would have to roll it into an IRA first.
How Much You Can Transfer
The 2026 cap is $111,000 per person, indexed annually for inflation under Internal Revenue Code Section 408(d)(8).4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408 Individual Retirement Accounts Spouses each have their own limit against their own IRAs, so a couple where both are 70½ or older can move up to $222,000 combined.
SECURE Act 2.0 also created a one-time, lifetime election to route up to $55,000 of your QCD into a charitable gift annuity or a charitable remainder trust that pays income back to you or your spouse.1Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs, as Adjusted for Changes in Cost-of-Living That $55,000 sits inside the overall $111,000 cap, and once the election year closes, no future split-interest transfers are allowed even if you used less than the full amount.
Which Charities Qualify
The recipient has to be an organization eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions under Section 170(b)(1)(A).4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408 Individual Retirement Accounts In practice that covers most public charities, churches, and schools. You can confirm status through the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool.5Internal Revenue Service. Search for Tax Exempt Organizations
Three types of recipients are excluded even though they look like charities on the outside: donor-advised funds, private non-operating foundations, and supporting organizations.6Internal Revenue Service. Seniors Can Reduce Their Tax Burden by Donating to Charity Through Their IRA If you were planning to use a QCD to fund a donor-advised fund, it will not qualify.
The gift also has to be entirely charitable. You cannot receive anything of value in return — no gala tickets, no premium seating, no membership perks. If the charity provides goods or services in exchange, the whole amount can lose its tax-free treatment.
Getting the RMD Credit: The First-Dollars-Out Rule
This is where people cost themselves the tax benefit. The IRS treats the first dollars leaving your IRA each year as satisfying that year’s RMD. If you take a regular taxable distribution in February and then arrange a QCD in October, the February withdrawal has already covered the RMD. Your October QCD is still tax-free, but it is on top of an RMD you already paid tax on.
To make the QCD absorb the RMD, make it your first withdrawal of the year. If your RMD is $8,000 and your first move is a $10,000 QCD, the first $8,000 satisfies the RMD tax-free and the remaining $2,000 is an additional tax-free charitable transfer.
Everything must be complete by December 31. No extensions. If your custodian is mailing a physical check, the charity has to receive and deposit it before year-end for it to count. Most advisors suggest starting the paperwork no later than early December.
How to Move the Money
Before you contact your IRA custodian, get the charity’s full legal name as it appears with the IRS, its nine-digit Employer Identification Number, and a verified mailing address. Wrong details cause delays.
Most custodians have a QCD request form. If yours does not, a letter of instruction works: your IRA account number, the exact amount, the charity’s name and address, and a clear direction that the check be made payable to the charity. Sign and date it. Larger transfers may require a medallion signature guarantee.
One detail matters more than all the others. The check has to be payable to the charity, not to you. If the money passes through your personal account first, it is no longer a QCD, even if you write a check to the charity the same day. The transfer has to be direct from IRA trustee to charity.6Internal Revenue Service. Seniors Can Reduce Their Tax Burden by Donating to Charity Through Their IRA
Once the money arrives, ask the charity for a written acknowledgment showing the amount and confirming that no goods or services were provided in return. Keep it with your tax records, along with copies of the request paperwork.
Reporting the QCD on Your 1040
Your custodian will send a Form 1099-R for the total distribution. It will not flag the QCD portion, because there is no distribution code for a QCD.6Internal Revenue Service. Seniors Can Reduce Their Tax Burden by Donating to Charity Through Their IRA Reporting it correctly is on you.
On Form 1040, put the full distribution on line 4a. On line 4b, enter zero if the whole distribution was a QCD, or only the taxable non-QCD portion if you took additional regular distributions. Then check box 2 on line 4c.3Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1040 and 1040-SR Skip that and your tax software will treat the full 1099-R amount as taxable, and the IRS will not correct it for you.
You also cannot claim a Schedule A charitable deduction for any amount you already excluded through a QCD.7Internal Revenue Service. Publication 526, Charitable Contributions The exclusion is the benefit; there is no second deduction on top of it.
Why a QCD Beats Writing a Check to the Same Charity
A regular charitable deduction only helps you if you itemize, and roughly 90% of filers take the standard deduction instead. A QCD produces tax savings no matter how you file, because the money never enters your income in the first place.6Internal Revenue Service. Seniors Can Reduce Their Tax Burden by Donating to Charity Through Their IRA
The bigger advantage is what the QCD does to your adjusted gross income. A Schedule A deduction reduces taxable income only. A QCD reduces AGI, and AGI drives a chain of other costs in retirement. Up to 85% of your Social Security benefits become taxable once your combined income exceeds $34,000 filing single or $44,000 filing jointly.8Internal Revenue Service. IRS Reminds Taxpayers Their Social Security Benefits May Be Taxable AGI also determines whether you pay the Medicare Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount surcharges on Part B and Part D premiums. For a retiree sitting near one of those cliffs, keeping RMD income off the return can save far more than the income tax on the distribution itself.
If You Miss the RMD Entirely
Whether you satisfy your RMD by regular withdrawal, by QCD, or by a mix, it has to be done by December 31. Fall short and the IRS imposes a 25% excise tax on the shortfall, dropping to 10% if you correct it within two years.9Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs A QCD that is still in processing on January 2 does not count for the prior year, no matter when you signed the form.