QCD Rules 2026: $111,000 Limit and Tax Savings Calculator

A qualified charitable distribution (QCD) is money sent straight from your IRA to a charity. If you are 70½ or older, it counts toward your required minimum distribution but never shows up in your income. For 2026 you can give up to $111,000 this way, per IRA owner. Because it lowers your adjusted gross income rather than adding a deduction, a QCD can also cut the tax on your Social Security, protect the new senior deduction and keep you under a Medicare IRMAA tier. Below: the 2026 rules from the IRS, what changed with the new charitable deduction for non-itemizers, and a calculator that compares a QCD with withdrawing the money and writing a check.

Table of Contents

The Short Answer

Who: IRA owners aged 70½ or older on the day of the distribution. That is still 70½, even though RMDs now start at 73 or 75.
How much: up to $111,000 in 2026, up from $108,000 in 2025 (IRS Notice 2025-67). The limit is per IRA owner, so a married couple who each own IRAs can give up to $111,000 each.
Tax treatment: the amount is excluded from income and counts toward your RMD. You do not also get a charitable deduction for it.
How: the IRA custodian pays the charity directly. Money you withdraw first and then donate is not a QCD.
Deadline: December 31, 2026 for the 2026 limit.
Charities: most public charities qualify. Donor-advised funds, supporting organizations and most private foundations do not.

Why a QCD Usually Beats Writing a Check

Compare two ways to give $10,000. In the first, you withdraw $10,000 from the IRA, pay tax on it, and donate it. In the second, the IRA sends it to the charity as a QCD. The charity gets the same $10,000. The difference is on your tax return.

Most retirees do not itemize. With the 2026 standard deduction at $32,200 for a married couple, plus $1,650 per spouse 65 or older and the $6,000 senior deduction each, few retirees have enough deductions to itemize. A cash gift then gets almost no deduction.
New for 2026: a small deduction for non-itemizers. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act lets people who take the standard deduction deduct up to $1,000 ($2,000 married filing jointly) of cash gifts to public charities, starting in 2026. Gifts above that still get no deduction.
Itemizers face a new floor. Also from 2026, itemized charitable deductions count only above 0.5% of your income.
A QCD works on AGI, which drives everything else. Taxable Social Security, the senior deduction phase-out, Medicare IRMAA tiers and the 3.8% net investment income tax are all based on versions of adjusted gross income. A deduction does not lower AGI; a QCD does.

The result for 2026: for gifts up to the new $1,000 or $2,000 non-itemizer deduction, a QCD and a cash gift come out about even on federal income tax, though the QCD still lowers AGI. Above that, the QCD saves tax on every additional dollar given, and more than your bracket rate if your Social Security is in the taxable range.

Worked Example: What a QCD Saves

Take a hypothetical married couple, both 75, filing jointly. They have $40,000 of pension income, $45,000 of Social Security, and a $30,000 RMD. They give to charity and take the standard deduction.

Amount given	Federal tax saved by a QCD vs a cash gift	AGI lower by
$2,000	$0	$2,000
$5,000	$360	$5,000
$10,000	$960	$10,000
$20,000	$3,123	$28,025

Hypothetical, 2026 federal income tax only. Cash route: standard deduction plus the $2,000 non-itemizer charitable deduction. Our arithmetic from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, IRC sections 86 and 170(p), and P.L. 119-21.

The first $2,000 saves nothing, because the new deduction already covers it. From $2,000 to $10,000 each extra dollar given saves 12 cents. At $20,000 the saving jumps: the couple's provisional income falls far enough that $8,025 less of their Social Security is taxed, so AGI drops by $28,025 for a $20,000 gift.

A single filer, 75, with a $25,000 pension, $24,000 of Social Security and a $20,000 RMD shows the Social Security effect even sooner: giving $10,000 by QCD saves $1,662, about 17% of the gift, because it also keeps $4,850 of benefits out of tax.

QCD Tax Savings Calculator

Enter how much you plan to give, your IRA withdrawal for the year and your other income. The calculator runs your 2026 federal return two ways, withdrawing the money and giving cash versus giving by QCD, and shows the tax saved, the drop in AGI and any Medicare IRMAA effect two years later.

Which IRAs and Which Charities Qualify

Traditional IRAs: yes. This is where QCDs make sense.
Inherited IRAs: yes, if the beneficiary is 70½ or older.
SEP and SIMPLE IRAs: only if they are not "ongoing", meaning no employer contribution is made for the plan year that ends in your tax year.
Roth IRAs: technically allowed, but only the taxable part of a distribution qualifies, and Roth withdrawals are usually tax-free already, so there is little point.
401(k), 403(b) and other employer plans: no. The law allows QCDs only from IRAs. Rolling the money into an IRA first is the usual workaround.
Eligible charities: organizations described in IRC section 170(b)(1)(A), which covers most public charities, churches, schools and hospitals. Excluded: donor-advised funds, supporting organizations under section 509(a)(3), and most private foundations.
No strings attached: the whole gift must be deductible as a charitable contribution apart from the QCD rules, so you cannot receive anything in return, such as event tickets or a dinner, in exchange for it.
Keep the receipt: you need the same written acknowledgment from the charity as for a deductible gift.
Deductible IRA contributions after 70½ reduce it. If you deducted traditional IRA contributions for years after reaching 70½, the amount of QCDs you can exclude is reduced by those deductions, under a rule effective since 2020.

Timing and Your RMD

The limit applies per calendar year, so the custodian must make the QCD by December 31 for it to count in 2026. Order matters too. Under the RMD rules, any money that comes out of your IRA during the year counts toward that year's RMD until it is satisfied. If you take your full RMD in cash in March and make a QCD in November, the QCD cannot replace income you have already received. To have the QCD satisfy your RMD, make it before other withdrawals.

A QCD can also be larger than your RMD, up to the limit. Any amount above the RMD simply leaves the IRA tax-free as well. No tax is withheld from a QCD.

The One-Time $55,000 Gift Annuity or Trust Election

You can make a one-time QCD of up to $55,000 in 2026 ($54,000 in 2025) to a charitable gift annuity, charitable remainder annuity trust or charitable remainder unitrust. The rules are strict:

It is a once-in-a-lifetime election, and the amount counts toward the $111,000 annual limit.
The annuity or trust must be funded only by QCDs.
Only you, your spouse, or both can receive the income, and the income interest cannot be assigned.
A gift annuity must pay fixed payments of 5% or more, starting within one year of funding.
The payments you receive are taxed as ordinary income.

How to Report a QCD on Your Tax Return

A QCD is not reported by the charity. You report it yourself:

Form 1099-R: your custodian reports the distribution as usual. The IRS added box 7 code Y for QCDs for tax year 2025, but for 2026 the code is optional, so your form may or may not show it.
Form 1040: enter the total IRA distribution on line 4a. Enter only the part that is not a QCD on line 4b, or zero if it was all a QCD. Then check box 2 on line 4c.
Split-interest election: check box 3 on line 4c, enter "SIE" and attach a statement.

Those line numbers are from the 2025 Form 1040 instructions; check the 2026 instructions when they come out.

How to Make a QCD Step by Step

Confirm the charity qualifies and is not a donor-advised fund or private foundation. The IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search shows a charity's status.
Ask your IRA custodian for its QCD form. The custodian pays the charity directly or issues a check made payable to the charity; a check payable to the charity that you deliver yourself still counts as a direct payment.
Do it early in the year if you want it to cover your RMD, and well before December 31 in any case, since custodians need time to process the request.
Get a written acknowledgment from the charity.
Tell your tax preparer, or report it yourself on line 4 of Form 1040 as described above.

Sources & Methodology

IRS Notice 2025-67: 2026 QCD limit ($111,000) and split-interest limit ($55,000); Notice 2024-80 for 2025.
IRC section 408(d)(8) (govinfo): the exclusion, eligible charities, the split-interest election and the offset for post-70½ deductible contributions.
IRS Notice 2007-7: which IRAs qualify, direct payment, acknowledgment, no withholding.
Treas. Reg. 1.408-8 (eCFR): QCDs count toward the RMD; first-dollars-out rule.
IRS Publication 590-B (2025): QCD rules and the QCD adjustment worksheet.
Form 1040 instructions (2025) and Form 1099-R instructions (2025, 2026): reporting and code Y.
Public Law 119-21, sections 70103, 70424 and 70425: the senior deduction, the non-itemizer charitable deduction and the 0.5% floor; Rev. Proc. 2025-32 for 2026 brackets and deductions.

Method notes. The worked examples and the calculator are our arithmetic: the 2026 federal return is computed with and without the QCD, using the same engine as our Roth conversion calculator. The cash comparison applies the full $1,000 or $2,000 non-itemizer deduction; how the new 0.5% floor interacts with that deduction was not settled in the sources we checked. Itemized gifts are reduced by the 0.5% floor but not by the percentage-of-AGI ceilings. State taxes are not included.

This article is educational and is not tax, legal or investment advice. Figures were checked against the IRS, the U.S. Code and Public Laws on govinfo.gov on 2026-10-12. The examples are hypothetical. Confirm the details with your IRA custodian and a tax professional before you give.

FAQ

What is the QCD limit for 2026?
$111,000 per IRA owner, up from $108,000 in 2025. Up to $55,000 of it can go to a one-time split-interest gift.

At what age can I make a QCD?
70½. The RMD starting age rose to 73 (75 for people born in 1960 or later), but the QCD age did not change, so you can start giving this way before your RMDs begin.

Can I make a QCD to a donor-advised fund?
No. Donor-advised funds and supporting organizations are excluded by law, and so are most private foundations.

Can I also deduct a QCD as a charitable contribution?
No. The QCD is already excluded from your income, so it cannot be deducted as well.

Can I make a QCD from my 401(k)?
No. QCDs are only for IRAs. You can roll the 401(k) into an IRA first.

Does a QCD have to be part of my RMD?
No. Once you are 70½ you can make QCDs whether or not an RMD is due. When an RMD is due, a QCD counts toward it.

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"Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) Rules for 2026: The $111,000 Limit, What Qualifies, and What It Saves." Wealthy Pot, 2026. https://wealthypot.com/qualified-charitable-distribution/