# Qualified charitable distribution (QCD)

> A qualified charitable distribution (QCD) is a gift paid directly from your IRA to a charity once you are 70½ or older; it counts toward your required minimum distribution and is left out of your taxable income.

Canonical page: https://find.wellspent.co/glossary/qcd/
Also called: QCD, IRA charitable rollover

For 2026 you can give up to $111,000 this way, up from $108,000 in 2025; the limit is per person and rises with inflation. A married couple can each give up to the limit from their own IRAs.

Because the gift never enters your adjusted gross income, you get the effect of a deduction even if you take the standard deduction. In exchange, you can't also claim the gift as a charitable deduction.

The rules are strict. The money must go from the IRA custodian straight to the charity, you must be at least 70½ on the day it is paid, and you need the same written acknowledgment from the charity you would need for a deduction. A QCD can't go to a donor-advised fund or a supporting organization.

## How to check

Ask your custodian for its QCD request form; money paid to you first and then donated doesn't qualify. Form 1099-R has no code that marks a QCD, so tell your tax preparer which distributions were QCDs.

## Sources

- [IRS Publication 590-B: Distributions from IRAs (2026 QCD limit)](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590b)
- [IRS: Donating to charity through your IRA](https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/seniors-can-reduce-their-tax-burden-by-donating-to-charity-through-their-ira)
- [26 U.S.C. 408(d)(8): qualified charitable distributions](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/408)

## Related terms

- [Required minimum distribution (RMD)](https://find.wellspent.co/glossary/rmd.md)
- [Donor-advised fund (DAF)](https://find.wellspent.co/glossary/donor-advised-fund.md)
- [Roth conversion](https://find.wellspent.co/glossary/roth-conversion.md)