Qualified Charitable Distributions: Giving From Your IRA After 70½ (Ohio Retiree Guide)

If you give to your church, the Miami Valley Meals on Wheels, or your alma mater, and you are over 70, there is a way to do it that can cost you less in taxes than writing a check. It is called a qualified charitable distribution, or QCD, and December is when most people wish they had known about it in January.

What a Qualified Charitable Distribution Is

A QCD is a gift paid directly from your IRA to a qualified charity. The IRS describes it as an otherwise taxable IRA distribution, other than from an ongoing SEP or SIMPLE IRA, that goes straight to the charity. The money never lands in your checking account first.

The key benefit: a QCD can satisfy all or part of your required minimum distribution, and the amount you give directly is not counted as taxable income. On your return, you report the full distribution, enter zero as the taxable amount if it is fully qualified, and write “QCD” next to it. The IRS reports charitable distributions on Form 1099-R for the calendar year in which the distribution is made.

The Rules You Need to Meet

Age: 70½ on the day of the gift

The IRS says you must be at least 70½ on the day of the distribution. That is earlier than the age 73 when required minimum distributions generally begin, so you can start giving this way before you have to take anything out.

The 2026 limit: $111,000 per person

IRS Notice 2025-67 raised the annual QCD limit from $108,000 to $111,000 for 2026. The limit applies per taxpayer, so a married couple with separate IRAs can each give up to their own limit. The limit is adjusted for inflation, so it changes from year to year.

It has to come from an IRA, and go straight to the charity

The check or transfer must come directly from your IRA to the charity. A 401(k) or 403(b) is not the same thing as an IRA, so if most of your savings are in a workplace plan, ask your plan administrator whether a rollover to an IRA makes sense first. Do not roll over without checking the tax effects first, since some workplace plans carry features that do not survive a move to an IRA.

Donor-advised funds do not qualify

The IRS says distributions to donor-advised funds do not count as QCDs. There is a narrow one-time exception for certain split-interest gifts, which is a conversation for a tax professional.

Plan on the December 31 deadline

For most years, an RMD is due by December 31. The first RMD can be delayed until April 1 of the following year, but that means two RMDs in one tax year. If you miss an RMD, the excise tax is 25% of the amount not withdrawn, or 10% if you correct it in time. Your IRA custodian needs lead time to process a QCD, so do not wait until the last week of December.

A Worked Example With Made-Up Numbers

Take a hypothetical retired couple in Kettering. Dorothy is 76 and her 2026 RMD is $18,000. She normally gives $5,000 a year to her church and $1,000 to the Dayton food bank, so $6,000 in total.

Without a QCD, Dorothy takes the full $18,000 from her IRA, adds it to her taxable income, and then gives away $6,000 from the checking account. Whether she gets any tax benefit from those gifts depends on whether she itemizes.

With a QCD, Dorothy asks her IRA custodian to send $6,000 directly to the two charities. That counts toward her $18,000 RMD, leaving $12,000 to withdraw. Her taxable IRA distribution is $12,000, not $18,000. The $6,000 gift never shows up as income.

The arithmetic is simple. What matters is the second-order effects, covered next. These numbers are only an illustration, so please do not treat them as a prediction for your own return.

The Medicare Connection Most People Miss

A lower adjusted gross income can matter for Medicare. Medicare premiums include an income-related surcharge called IRMAA for higher earners. Social Security says it generally uses your tax return from two years earlier. For 2026, that is the return for tax year 2024. So a QCD you make in 2026 can affect which premium bracket you land in for 2028.

The standard Part B premium for 2026 is $202.90 per month, according to Social Security. IRMAA adds to that base amount depending on your income tier. If you are close to a bracket line, a QCD can help, but this is a good reason to run the numbers before December rather than after.

A QCD also lowers the income that shows up on your return, which may affect other income-based calculations. A tax professional can tell you which ones apply to you.

Quick Questions We Hear

Can I do a QCD from a Roth IRA?

The IRS notes that Form 8606 is required if a QCD comes from a Roth IRA, or from a traditional IRA with other distributions that year. Which account to give from is a question for your tax preparer, since it changes what you report and which forms you file.

Does the charity get the full amount?

Yes. A QCD is a gift from the IRA, so the charity receives the amount you send. The charity should still give you a written acknowledgment, and you should ask for it.

What if I am not yet 70½?

You can still give from an IRA, but the withdrawal would be taxable income and would not be a QCD. If you are 69 or younger, it may make sense to wait until you reach 70½ before making a larger gift from your IRA.

Mistakes That Cost People Money

The most common mistake is taking the RMD first and trying to give from it afterward. Once the money is in your account, a later gift to charity is an ordinary gift, not a QCD. The second is a check made out to you and handed to the charity, which does not meet the direct-payment requirement. Ask your custodian whether they issue checks payable to the charity.

The third mistake is forgetting to tell your tax preparer. Your tax preparer needs to know the distribution was a QCD so it is reported correctly, with zero as the taxable amount. A wrong return can mean paying tax on money you gave away.

Keep the charity’s acknowledgment letter with your tax records. Many retirees in the Beavercreek and Dayton area give to several organizations each year, and a simple spreadsheet of each gift, its date, and the confirmation keeps everything straight.

Where to Start

Make a list of the charities you support and the total you give each year. Then find out how much of your RMD for this year you have already taken. Call your IRA custodian and ask about their QCD process, because each one has its own paperwork and timing.

One more habit helps: decide on your giving amounts in October or November, not December. That leaves time to confirm each charity’s legal name and address, to find out whether your custodian sends the payment by check or electronic transfer, and to fix anything that goes wrong before the year-end deadline. If something does go wrong, a gift that arrives in January is a 2027 gift, and it will not count toward your 2026 RMD.

If you would like help coordinating your RMD, your giving, and your Medicare premiums, Medicare & Retirement Solutions Group in Beavercreek offers a free consultation. Call us or visit medretiregroup.com, and we can look at the numbers with you before the year ends.

This article is general educational information, not individualized tax, insurance, or investment advice. Rules and figures change and individual circumstances vary — please confirm details with your plan, or speak with a qualified professional, before acting.