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QCD vs. Charitable Deduction Calculator

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QCD vs. charitable deduction calculator

This is the amount the charity ends up with, and it is the same either way

Both routes on the next screens move exactly these dollars to the charity. What changes is how your tax return counts them: sent straight from the IRA the money never appears as your income at all, while taking it out yourself makes it income first and then asks whether you can write the gift off. A rough figure is fine, you can change it at the end and watch the answer update.

Which account would that money come out of?

Paying a charity straight from the account only works from an IRA

It does not work from a workplace plan such as a 401(k), a 403(b) or a 457, and it does not work from a SEP or SIMPLE IRA that someone is still paying into. "Inactive" here just means nobody has added money to it this year. A Roth IRA is allowed but is almost never worth using, because that money already comes out tax-free. If your money is in a workplace plan you can move it into a traditional IRA first, and then give from there.

You can enter a half year here, for example 70.5

Sending money straight from your IRA to a charity is only allowed once you have actually reached 70½ on the day the money leaves the account, not simply turned 70 that year. That is about two and a half years before you are first made to take money out, which starts at 73. Those two ages are set by two different rules and mixing them up is the most common mistake people make here.

Your IRA provider works this figure out and tells you each year — leave it at 0 if you do not know it

The amount you are made to take is called a required minimum distribution, or RMD, and it starts at age 73. Money sent straight from the IRA to a charity counts toward this amount, but only if you do it before any other withdrawal that year. Take anything else out first and that withdrawal uses up the required amount instead.

For almost everyone this is $0 — leave it as it is and press Next

This one is rare. It only counts if you are still working, still paying new money into a traditional IRA, and also writing those contributions off on your tax return, and only for money you put in after you turned 70½. A narrow rule then cuts the amount you can give straight to the charity by that much, dollar for dollar. It exists to stop people paying money in for a write-off and pulling the same money straight back out tax-free.

Everything else on your tax return — leave the money for this gift out of it

Social Security, a pension, other withdrawals, investment income. The tool adds the gift money back on its own, on the side where you take it out as income first, and works your income for the year out from there. A ballpark is fine.

How do you do your taxes?

Why this changes the answer

Tax forms call this your filing status. It sets the flat amount everyone is offered instead of listing expenses one by one, and it sets the tax rates on your income — between them those decide whether writing the gift off is worth anything at all. It also sets the small write-off a non-lister gets for giving: $1,000 on your own, $2,000 on a joint return.

Is your husband or wife also 65 or older?

People aged 65 and over get a slightly bigger version of the flat deduction everyone is offered

You already get it, because this route needs you to be past 70½. This question only adds your husband or wife's share of it, and it only changes the side where you take the money out as income and write the gift off. It never changes the direct route, because nothing is being written off there.

Mainly state and local taxes and mortgage interest — nothing else to write off? Leave it at 0

Listing expenses like these one by one, instead of taking the flat amount everyone is offered, is called itemizing. It is what decides whether writing this gift off is worth anything at all, so it is worth answering. Add up your state and local taxes, up to the $40,000 cap, plus your mortgage interest. Leave this charity gift itself out of the box, it is already counted.

Your answer

These are example numbers. Type yours to see your own.

Which charities can be paid straight from an IRA?

Only a public charity, and the money has to go directly from your IRA provider to the charity — never through your own bank account first. A donor-advised fund, a private foundation and a supporting organisation are all shut out by law, even though a gift to some of those can still be written off the other way. The gift also has to be a pure gift: no dinner, no raffle ticket, no member perks in return.

If you are 70½ or older and have a traditional IRA, there are two very different ways to give money from it to a charity. You can have the IRA pay the charity directly, and then the money never counts as your income at all, up to $111,000 in 2026. Or you can take the money out yourself, count it as income, and write the gift off, which only helps if you already list your bigger expenses one by one on your tax return. Fill in your numbers to see what each way does to your income and to your federal tax, side by side. The direct route has a name on the paperwork, a qualified charitable distribution or QCD, and your IRA provider will expect you to ask for it by that name. Everything runs in your browser, nothing is uploaded.

Estimate for general guidance only — not tax advice. Figures use the 2026 federal brackets, the 2026 standard deduction plus the age-65+ addition ($2,050 single/head of household, $1,650 per qualifying spouse married filing jointly), and the 2026 charitable-deduction rules (the §170(p) $1,000/$2,000 non-itemizer cap, the 0.5%-of-AGI floor, and the §68 top-bracket haircut) via the same engine as the Charitable Deduction Calculator. It assumes no basis in the IRA (all pre-tax), doesn't model the one-time $55,000 split-interest QCD, IRMAA tiers, Social Security taxability, the 3.8% NIIT, the 60%/30%/20%-of-AGI ceilings on very large gifts, or state tax (a few states don't conform to the QCD exclusion). Verify with the IRS or a tax professional.

Five things people get wrong about QCDs

1. "I have to wait until 73 (RMD age) to do a QCD." No — you can QCD starting at 70½, about 2.5 years before RMDs begin at 73. These are two different ages set by two different rules, and conflating them is the single most common QCD mistake.

2. "Donating my RMD and writing it off" is the same as a QCD. It isn't. A QCD is never taxed — it's excluded from income before it ever hits your return. Taking the distribution and deducting the gift makes it taxable first, and the deduction only helps if you itemize — which the 2026 rules make harder, not easier.

3. "I take the standard deduction, so giving from my IRA doesn't help me." With a QCD it does. A QCD isn't a deduction at all — it's an income exclusion, so it works exactly the same whether you itemize or not. Take-and-deduct, by contrast, gives a non-itemizer only the small §170(p) $1,000/$2,000 crumb.

4. "A QCD always beats take-and-deduct on my taxes." Almost always — but for a gift at or below $1,000 (single) / $2,000 (married filing jointly), the two paths tie on federal income tax, because take-and-deduct removes the exact same dollars via §170(p). A QCD still wins in that band, but through a lower AGI, not a bigger refund.

5. "Any charity works, and it can come from any retirement account." No. A QCD must go directly from your IRA trustee to a public charity — donor-advised funds, private foundations, and supporting organizations are excluded by statute. And it has to come from an IRA, not a 401(k) — you'd need to roll it over first.

How a QCD compares to taking the distribution and deducting it

A Qualified Charitable Distribution (IRC §408(d)(8)) lets an IRA owner age 70½+ send up to $111,000 in 2026 (indexed annually — up from $108,000 in 2025 and $105,000 in 2024, per IRS Notice 2025-67) directly from the IRA trustee to a section 170(b)(1)(A) public charity, per person. The statute is explicit: the amount "shall not be includible in gross income." It never touches your AGI, and because it was never income, you can't also claim a charitable deduction for it — no double-dip, and none is needed.

The alternative — take it as income, then deduct it — raises your AGI first. The distribution is fully taxable, and the gift is only deductible if you itemize, subject to the same three 2026 rules modeled by the Charitable Deduction Calculator: the permanent §170(p) non-itemizer deduction (capped at $1,000 single / $2,000 married filing jointly), a new 0.5%-of-AGI floor for itemizers, and the §68 "2/37 rule" that trims every itemized deduction to about 35 cents on the dollar in the 37% bracket. This tool reuses that exact engine for the take-and-deduct side — it doesn't re-derive the deduction math, it calls the same function twice.

Why the AGI exclusion is worth more than an equal-sized deduction. A deduction only reduces taxable income after AGI is computed — it can't touch anything keyed to AGI itself. A QCD keeps the dollars out of AGI from the start, which can matter for Medicare Part B/D premium surcharges (IRMAA), how much of your Social Security benefit gets taxed, and the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax threshold — none of which an itemized deduction can move. This tool flags that AGI effect but doesn't compute IRMAA or Social-Security-taxability dollars in v1; those need their own sourced tables.

A QCD counts toward your RMD. If you're already RMD age (73+ under SECURE 2.0), a QCD satisfies that year's required minimum distribution dollar-for-dollar, up to the amount you give. Ordering matters: the first distributions you take in a year count toward the RMD, so do the QCD before any other withdrawal, or an earlier taxable withdrawal eats the RMD first.

No withholding. A QCD is deemed to have elected out of withholding (IRC §3405(a)(2)), so the full amount reaches the charity. A normal IRA distribution defaults to 10% federal withholding unless you file Form W-4R to change it.

Eligibility restrictions. The gift must go directly from the trustee to a public charity — not a donor-advised fund, private non-operating foundation, or supporting organization — and the entire gift must otherwise be 100% deductible under §170 (no dinner, no raffle ticket, no member perks). It must come from an IRA (not an ongoing SEP/SIMPLE, and not a 401(k)/403(b)/457). A Roth IRA technically qualifies but almost never makes sense, since qualified Roth withdrawals are already tax-free. And if you're still working and deducting new IRA contributions after 70½, your excludable QCD is reduced dollar-for-dollar by those contributions (a narrow anti-abuse rule).

A worked example

Diane is single, age 75, with $60,000 of AGI from Social Security and a pension. She wants to give $10,000 to her church this year and takes the standard deduction otherwise.

  • QCD: her IRA trustee sends $10,000 straight to the church. Her AGI stays exactly $60,000 — the gift never shows up as income, so there's nothing to deduct and nothing to withhold.
  • Take-and-deduct: she withdraws $10,000 (AGI rises to $70,000), and since she doesn't itemize, she can claim only the $1,000 §170(p) non-itemizer deduction on the gift — the rest of the distribution is fully taxed.
  • Result: the QCD saves Diane a little over $1,100 in federal income tax this year, and keeps her AGI $10,000 lower — every dollar of the gift, not just the $1,000 a non-itemizer can deduct.

Now shrink the gift to $900 — under the $1,000 §170(p) cap. Take-and-deduct would remove that same $900 from taxable income, so the two paths land on the exact same federal income tax. The QCD still "wins," but only because Diane's AGI is $900 lower — not because it saves her any more tax this year. That's the one case where "QCD always wins" overstates it, and the calculator will tell you plainly when you're in that band.

Common questions

How old do I have to be? 70½ on the distribution date — not just the calendar year you turn 70. That's about 2.5 years before RMDs start at 73.

Does a QCD lower my AGI? Yes, entirely — it's excluded from gross income under §408(d)(8)(A), never added and then subtracted.

Do I get a deduction too? No. Since it was never income, there's nothing to deduct — claiming one would be a double benefit.

Is a QCD always better? Almost always, but it ties on federal income tax at or below the $1,000 (single) / $2,000 (married filing jointly) §170(p) cap — see the worked example above.

What's the 2026 limit? $111,000 per person, up from $108,000 in 2025 — indexed annually, per IRS Notice 2025-67.

Which charities qualify? Public charities only, direct trustee-to-charity — not donor-advised funds, private foundations, or supporting organizations.

Does it count toward my RMD? Yes, if you're 73+, as long as you make the QCD before any other withdrawal that year.

Is it withheld like a normal distribution? No — a QCD isn't subject to withholding, so the full amount reaches the charity.

Can I use a 401(k) or Roth IRA? Not a 401(k)/403(b)/457 (roll to an IRA first). A Roth technically qualifies but usually isn't worth it — that money's already tax-free.

Does either route change my Social Security or Medicare tax? No. Money coming out of an IRA is not wages, so no Social Security or Medicare payroll tax is charged on it either way. A lower AGI can still change your Medicare premium surcharge, which is a different thing.

Is anything saved or uploaded? No. The tool is fully client-side — your numbers never leave your browser.

Sources: IRS Notice 2025-67, 2026 qualified charitable distribution amounts; IRS Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements; 26 USC §408(d)(8) (Cornell LII); Northern Trust, withholding from IRA distributions; Kiplinger, the extra standard deduction for 65 and older. Take-and-deduct math shares the sources of the Charitable Deduction Calculator (Public Law 119-21 §§70424, 70425, 70111).

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