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.
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.
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