Qualified charitable distributions (QCDs): the rules, the limit and the math

Key points

• From age 70½, you can have your IRA pay a charity directly. Up to $111,000 for 2026 ($108,000 for 2025) stays out of your income. That payment is a qualified charitable distribution (QCD).
• A QCD counts toward your required minimum distribution (RMD) for the year.
• You cannot also deduct it. The gain is a lower adjusted gross income, which can mean less of your Social Security taxed and lower Medicare premiums two years later.
• Donor-advised funds, supporting organizations, 401(k)s and ongoing SEP or SIMPLE IRAs are out.

A QCD is a distribution from your IRA that the IRA trustee pays straight to a qualifying charity. The tax code leaves it out of your gross income, up to an annual limit, as long as every condition is met. Miss one condition and the payment is treated as an ordinary taxable withdrawal followed by a gift from you.

This guide covers federal rules, not state income tax. We checked every rule and figure against the tax code, IRS publications, forms and notices on October 27, 2026. They are listed at the end. For the wider RMD rules, see our guide to required minimum distributions.

Who can make a qualified charitable distribution?

You must be at least age 70½ on the day the distribution is made. Reaching 70½ later in the same year is not enough.

That age is separate from your RMD age, which is 73 for people born from 1951 to 1958 and 75 for people born in 1960 or later (our RMD age guide has the 1959 detail). So QCDs can start a few years before RMDs do.

The account matters too. The rule covers individual retirement accounts and annuities only.

Account	QCD allowed?
Traditional IRA	Yes
Inherited IRA, if the beneficiary is 70½ or older	Yes
Roth IRA	Allowed, but only the part that would otherwise be taxable can be a QCD
SEP IRA or SIMPLE IRA	Only if it is not “ongoing”
401(k), 403(b) or other workplace plan	No

A SEP or SIMPLE IRA is ongoing if your employer makes a contribution for the plan year ending with or within the tax year of the gift.

Workplace plans are not individual retirement plans under the tax code, so a 401(k) cannot make a QCD. Money has to be in an IRA first, for example after a rollover. An RMD itself cannot be rolled over, so a 401(k)’s RMD for the year is paid out of the plan and cannot become a QCD. Our 401(k) RMD guide covers those plans.

Inherited IRAs. A beneficiary who is 70½ or older can make QCDs from an inherited IRA, with the same rules: a direct payment, a qualifying charity and the annual limit. Like any distribution, a QCD from the inherited IRA can count toward that account’s RMD for the year. Our inherited IRA RMD guide covers when those RMDs apply.

QCD limit for 2026

Tax year	Annual QCD limit	One-time split-interest limit
2025	$108,000	$54,000
2026	$111,000	$55,000
2027	Not yet published	Not yet published

The 2027 figures had not been published on October 27, 2026. The IRS released the 2026 retirement figures on November 13, 2025.

The limit is per person. It covers all your QCDs for the year, from all your IRAs together. If you file jointly, your spouse can also exclude QCDs up to the limit from their own IRA.

It rises with inflation. The statute set the limit at $100,000. From 2024 it is adjusted each year for inflation and rounded to the nearest $1,000.

Above the limit, it is ordinary income. In the IRS’s words: “Any QCD in excess of the $108,000 exclusion limit is included in income as any other distribution.” That was written for 2025. For 2026 the limit is $111,000.

A QCD does not have to match your RMD. Up to the annual limit, the whole QCD stays out of your income, including any part above your RMD.

IRA contributions after 70½ can shrink a QCD

If you deducted traditional IRA contributions for any year in which you were 70½ or older, the amount of QCDs you can exclude is reduced by those deductions. Each deducted dollar reduces the excludable QCDs once: whatever has already reduced an earlier year’s QCDs does not count again.

Example. You deducted a $5,000 traditional IRA contribution for 2025, when you were 71, and made no QCD that year. In 2026 you make a $12,000 QCD. Only $7,000 is left out of your income. The other $5,000 is taxable. The $5,000 offset is then used up.

The IRS worksheet for this is in Publication 590-B, Appendix D.

Which charities qualify for a QCD?

The charity must be an organization described in section 170(b)(1)(A) of the tax code. That list includes churches, schools with a regular faculty and enrolled students, hospitals, and publicly supported charities, among others.

Two kinds of organization are excluded by name:

• Donor-advised funds. A QCD cannot go into a donor-advised fund.
• Supporting organizations, which the code describes in section 509(a)(3).

The whole gift must be deductible. A distribution is a QCD only if a deduction for the entire amount would be allowed as a charitable contribution. If you get something back, such as event tickets or a dinner, you could deduct only the part above the value of what you received. So a gift that buys a benefit does not qualify.

Check the charity. The IRS says you can ask any organization whether it is a qualified organization, and you can search the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool at IRS.gov/TEOS. A QCD has the narrower list above, so the donor-advised fund and supporting organization questions are worth asking too.

How a QCD counts toward your RMD

The IRS puts it in one line: “A QCD will count towards your required minimum distribution.”

Example. You were born in 1951, so you turn 75 in 2026. Your IRA was worth $369,000 on December 31, 2025. The factor at 75 in the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table is 24.6.

• 2026 RMD: $369,000 ÷ 24.6 = $15,000.
• Your IRA trustee pays $10,000 to a charity as a QCD.
• You need to take only $5,000 more to meet the RMD.
• If your IRA holds no after-tax money, only that $5,000 is taxable.

You can run these numbers in our RMD calculator. Our guide to calculating an RMD explains each step.

Three timing points:

• Only the trustee’s payment to the charity is a QCD. If you withdrew your whole RMD in March and gave the same amount to charity in December, the March withdrawal stays taxable. The December gift could be deducted only under the ordinary charitable deduction rules.
• Extra does not carry forward. A QCD above this year’s RMD does not count toward next year’s RMD.
• Several IRAs. IRA RMDs can be totaled and taken from any one or more of your IRAs, so a QCD from one IRA can cover RMDs figured on the others. Our guide to RMDs across several IRAs has the full rules.

How to make a qualified charitable distribution

1. Check your age on the date. You must be 70½ or older on the day the money leaves the IRA.
2. Check the charity against the rules above.
3. Ask your IRA custodian for a direct payment to the charity. The trustee pays the charity. A check from the IRA made payable to the charity still counts as a direct payment even if you deliver it yourself. A check made payable to you does not.
4. Expect no tax withholding. The IRS treats a person who asks for a QCD as having elected out of withholding.
5. Get the charity’s written acknowledgment. You need the same kind of acknowledgment you would need to deduct the gift. For a gift of $250 or more, it must be in writing, state the amount, and say whether you received any goods or services in return. You need it by the date you file your return or the return’s due date, including extensions, whichever comes first.
6. Mind the calendar. QCDs count in the year the distribution is made, and Form 1099-R reports them for that calendar year.

How to report a QCD on your tax return

Form 1099-R. Your IRA custodian reports the distribution on Form 1099-R. For tax year 2026, the IRS added code Y in box 7a to identify a QCD, but using it is optional. So the form may show your QCD as an ordinary distribution. Keeping it out of income is done on your return.

Form 1040. On the 2025 Form 1040 (Form 1040-SR uses the same lines):

• Line 4a: the total IRA distribution, including the QCD.
• Line 4b: the taxable amount. Enter zero if the whole distribution was a QCD, or only the part that was not.
• Line 4c: check box 2, labelled “QCD”.

The IRS’s early-release draft of the 2026 Form 1040, marked not for filing, has the same box. Before the 2025 form, the instructions said to write “QCD” next to line 4b instead, and an IRS questions page updated in March 2026 still says so. Use the instructions for the year you are filing.

Form 8606. You also file Form 8606 if the QCD came from a traditional IRA with after-tax money (basis) and you took another distribution that year, or if the QCD came from a Roth IRA.

Do not claim it on Schedule A. A QCD left out of your income cannot also be deducted as a charitable gift.

QCD versus writing a check: the tax math

A QCD and a check from your own account can deliver the same gift. The tax treatment differs.

• Check: you take the RMD, which counts in your income, then give. You get a deduction only if you itemize, and from 2026 only for gifts above 0.5% of your adjusted gross income. If you take the standard deduction, from 2026 you can deduct up to $1,000 of cash gifts to qualifying charities ($2,000 on a joint return).
• QCD: the money never enters your income, so there is nothing to deduct.

Lower adjusted gross income can also mean less of your Social Security taxed, more of the new deduction for people 65 and older, and a lower Medicare premium two years later. The examples below use the 2026 brackets and deductions and show federal income tax only. We figure tax with the IRS tax rate schedules. On a return, taxable income under $100,000 is looked up in the IRS Tax Table instead, which can differ by a few dollars.

Example: a standard-deduction filer. A single filer, 75 in 2026, has a $20,000 pension, $30,000 of Social Security and the $15,000 RMD from the example above. They give $10,000 to charity each year. Their other deductible expenses are $4,000, so they take the standard deduction either way.

	Take the RMD, then write a check	Give through a QCD
Taxable Social Security	$18,100	$9,600
Adjusted gross income	$53,100	$34,600
Deductions	$18,150 standard, $6,000 senior, $1,000 for cash gifts	$18,150 standard, $6,000 senior
Taxable income	$27,950	$10,450
Federal income tax	$3,106	$1,045

The QCD saves $2,061 of federal tax. Their adjusted gross income falls by $18,500, more than the $10,000 gift, because $8,500 less of their Social Security is taxable.

Example: a couple who itemize. A married couple filing jointly, both 74 in 2026, has a $60,000 pension and $50,000 of Social Security. One spouse’s IRA was worth $1,020,000 on December 31, 2025, so the RMD is $1,020,000 ÷ 25.5 = $40,000. They give $15,000 to charity. Their other itemized deductions are $25,000.

	Take the RMD, then write a check	Give through a QCD
Adjusted gross income	$142,500	$127,500
Charitable deduction	$14,287.50 (the $15,000 less 0.5% of adjusted gross income, $712.50)	None
Total deductions	$39,287.50 itemized plus $12,000 senior	$35,500 standard plus $12,000 senior
Taxable income	$91,212.50	$80,000
Federal income tax	$10,449.50	$9,104

The QCD saves $1,345.50. Their other deductions ($25,000) are below the $35,500 standard deduction, so itemizing the gift adds only $3,787.50 of deductions beyond what they get anyway. The QCD takes the full $15,000 out of their income, and it avoids the 0.5% floor.

Their taxable Social Security is $42,500 either way, the 85% cap, so it plays no part here.

The gap depends on your numbers. To see what an RMD does to your taxes, try the RMD calculator with your own figures. Our guide to how RMDs are taxed covers the brackets, Social Security and Medicare effects, and how to lower RMDs covers QCDs alongside the other options.

The one-time QCD to a charitable gift annuity or remainder trust

The tax code also allows a one-time option. For one tax year only, you can elect to make QCDs to a split-interest entity, up to $55,000 for 2026 ($54,000 for 2025). It is still a QCD, so it also counts toward that year’s annual limit.

Three kinds of entity qualify, and each must be funded only by QCDs:

• a charitable remainder annuity trust
• a charitable remainder unitrust
• a charitable gift annuity that starts fixed payments of 5% or more within one year of funding

Other conditions:

• No one other than you, your spouse or both can hold the income interest, and it cannot be assigned.
• Payments from the trust are taxed as ordinary income. For a gift annuity, the QCD does not count as your investment in the contract, which is what normally sets the tax-free part of each annuity payment.

To report it, check box 3 on line 4c of Form 1040, enter “SIE” and attach a statement with the details the IRS lists in Publication 590-B.

Common QCD mistakes

• Taking the RMD in cash first and giving later. Only the trustee’s direct payment is a QCD.
• Sending a QCD to a donor-advised fund or a supporting organization.
• Making the QCD before the day you reach 70½.
• Accepting a benefit, such as tickets, for the gift.
• Not getting the written acknowledgment in time.
• Reporting the full Form 1099-R amount as taxable instead of marking the QCD on line 4c.
• Deducting the QCD on Schedule A as well.
• Forgetting the reduction for IRA contributions deducted after 70½.

About this guide

Written by the Diversify Guy editorial desk. Diversify Guy is a pen name. It is the byline of our editorial team, not a single individual. We do not publish personal trading records or claim to be your adviser. We tell you where every figure came from so you can check it yourself. How we work and how we get paid.

This guide explains federal rules. It is not personalized tax or investment advice. Diversify Guy earns affiliate commissions and advertising fees from companies featured elsewhere on the site. This page carries no ads and no affiliate links.

Sources and check dates

All sources were fetched and checked on October 27, 2026.

• Internal Revenue Code section 408(d)(8) (qualified charitable distributions), U.S. Code 2024 edition: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title26/html/USCODE-2024-title26-subtitleA-chap1-subchapD-partI-subpartA-sec408.htm and statutory notes at https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/408
• Internal Revenue Code section 170 (charitable deduction, including the 2025 amendments): https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/170
• Public Law 119-21, sections 70424 and 70425 (the 2026 charitable deduction changes), govinfo: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-119publ21/html/PLAW-119publ21.htm
• IRS Topic no. 506, Charitable contributions, page last updated September 24, 2026: https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc506
• IRS Publication 505 (2026), Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax (What’s New for 2026): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p505.pdf
• Internal Revenue Code section 7701(a)(37) (individual retirement plan): https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/7701
• Internal Revenue Code section 151(d)(5) (deduction for people 65 and older): https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/151
• Internal Revenue Code section 86 (taxable Social Security): https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/86
• IRS Notice 2007-7, questions 34 to 44 (qualified charitable distributions): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-07-07.pdf
• IRS Notice 2025-67, 2026 amounts relating to retirement plans and IRAs: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-25-67.pdf
• IRS Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs): https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590b
• IRS Publication 526 (2025), Charitable Contributions: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p526
• IRS Publication 915 (2025), Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p915.pdf
• 2025 Form 1040: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf
• 2026 Form 1040, IRS early-release draft (not for filing, created August 19, 2026): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040–dft.pdf
• 2025 Instructions for Forms 1040 and 1040-SR: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf
• 2024 Instructions for Forms 1040 and 1040-SR: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/i1040gi–2024.pdf
• 2026 Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1099r.pdf
• IRS, Retirement plans FAQs regarding IRAs distributions (withdrawals), page last updated March 23, 2026: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/retirement-plans-faqs-regarding-iras-distributions-withdrawals
• IRS, COLA increases for dollar limitations on benefits and contributions, page last updated August 24, 2026, and IRS news releases for the current month (through IR-2026-128, October 23, 2026): https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/cola-increases-for-dollar-limitations-on-benefits-and-contributions and https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/news-releases-for-current-month
• IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, 2026 tax rate tables and standard deduction: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-25-32.pdf
• IRS, tax deductions for working Americans and seniors (senior deduction): https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/working-families-tax-cuts-tax-deductions-for-working-americans-and-seniors
• IRS, Retirement topics: Required minimum distributions (RMDs): https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-required-minimum-distributions-rmds
• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9 (Uniform Lifetime Table), eCFR: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-9
• CMS, 2026 Medicare Parts A & B premiums and deductibles fact sheet, and 20 CFR 418.1135 (the two-year lookback): https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2026-medicare-parts-b-premiums-deductibles and https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-20/section-418.1135