IRA owners who are 70½ or older can send money straight from an IRA to charity this year, up to $111,000 per person for 2026. The IRS calls the gift a qualified charitable distribution, or QCD. It counts toward the required minimum distribution, the withdrawal many IRA owners must take each year, and it does not add to taxable income.
The 2026 limit is $111,000
The IRS raised the cap for 2026 in Notice 2025-67, its yearly list of retirement-plan figures. The notice says the amount of QCDs that can be left out of gross income rises from $108,000 to $111,000. The cap applies to each person.
The IRS’s Publication 590-B says spouses who file a joint return can each exclude up to the limit from their own IRAs. For a couple with two IRAs, that is up to $222,000 combined in 2026. Anything above a person’s limit is taxed like an ordinary IRA withdrawal.
The notice also lifts a second figure. A one-time gift to a split-interest entity, such as a charitable gift annuity, rises from $54,000 to $55,000 for 2026.
Who can use a QCD
The publication says the owner must be at least 70½ when the money is distributed. Being 70½ at the date of the gift is the test, not the age at which required withdrawals begin. The money must come from an IRA, and ongoing SEP and SIMPLE IRAs are excluded.
The gift must be “a nontaxable distribution made directly by the trustee” of the IRA to an eligible charity, in the publication’s words. That is the part most often done wrong. An IRA owner who takes a withdrawal, deposits it and writes a check to charity later has made an ordinary taxable withdrawal, not a QCD.
The question for most readers is simple: is the required withdrawal already coming this year, and could part of it go to a charity instead? A gift that qualifies can cover some or all of that withdrawal.
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How the gift counts toward the required withdrawal
Publication 590-B states plainly that a QCD counts toward the required minimum distribution. The IRA owner meets the withdrawal rule and does not report the money as income, which a regular withdrawal would not allow. The IRS tax tip on donating through an IRA says the same: the QCD is nontaxable and counts toward the required amount.
A simple example shows the effect. An owner with a $25,000 required withdrawal who sends $10,000 straight to a charity through the IRA has met $10,000 of the requirement, and the remaining $15,000 must still be withdrawn. That arithmetic follows from the rule that a QCD counts toward the requirement, and it leaves the $10,000 out of income. The charity receives the full amount.
There is a cap on what can be excluded. The publication says a QCD cannot exceed the part of the distribution that would otherwise be taxable. If the IRA holds nondeductible contributions, the distribution is first treated as paid from the amount that would otherwise be taxable income.
The publication also warns about a reduction. Starting with tax years after 2019, the amount that can be excluded is cut by IRA contributions that were deducted at age 70½ or older. A worksheet in the publication handles that adjustment for people who kept contributing after that age.
The IRA company reports the distribution on Form 1099-R for the calendar year in which it was made, according to the IRS tip. The form may not say QCD, so the owner has to mark it. The publication says to report the full distribution on line 4a of Form 1040, 1040-SR or 1040-NR, and to check box 2 on line 4c for a QCD.
The taxable amount line is zero for a QCD with no nondeductible basis. Form 8606 is used to figure the taxable amount when basis is involved. A QCD that is excluded from income cannot also be deducted as a charitable gift.
Records matter. The publication says the owner needs the same written acknowledgment from the charity that would be required to claim a charitable deduction. A letter from the charity dated after the gift should be kept with the IRA statement.
Why the calendar matters this fall
A QCD belongs to the year the trustee makes it. A gift that has not left the IRA by Dec. 31 cannot count for 2026, and the IRA company may need time to prepare a check to the charity. With roughly eight weeks left in the year, anyone planning a 2026 gift should ask the IRA company how long it takes.
The split-interest option has its own steps. The publication says the one-time election is limited to a charitable remainder annuity trust, a charitable remainder unitrust or a charitable gift annuity. For a gift annuity, payments must start within a year of funding and be fixed at 5% or more. The owner attaches a statement to the return and checks box 3 on line 4c, writing “SIE.”
The IRS tip says QCDs cannot come from SEP or SIMPLE IRAs, which matches the publication.
Could a QCD cover this year’s IRA withdrawal?
The risk for IRA owners is small but costly: a gift that does not go directly from the IRA company to the charity, or that arrives after Dec. 31, turns into a taxable withdrawal that counts as income and does nothing for the 2026 limit.
Give From Your IRA (QCDs) is a 13-page guide that covers letting the gift cover your RMD, the withdrawal you must take anyway, with a worked example and a request letter and giving log for the IRA company. It explains the steps in plain language and does not make the gift or decide who qualifies.
Get the QCD request letter and giving log for an IRA gift →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
