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Qualified charitable distributions in 2026: the age rule, the $111,000 limit, and your RMD

✓ TestedReference · 2026 limits from IRS Notice 2025-67; eligibility and transfer rules from IRC §408(d)(8) and Publication 590-B2026-10-04
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A qualified charitable distribution (QCD) is money sent directly from a traditional IRA to a qualifying charity. Done correctly, it is never counted as income at all -- not income you report and then deduct, but income that never shows up on your return in the first place. This guide covers who qualifies in 2026, how the dollar limit works, how it interacts with your required minimum distribution (RMD), and why the AGI effect can matter more than the giving itself. It's general information, not tax advice; a tax professional can confirm how it applies to your own return.

The age rule: 70½, not your RMD age

You must be 70½ or older on the date of the distribution. That's a different, and usually earlier, line than the age your RMDs actually start -- 73 if you were born 1951 through 1959, or 75 if you were born in 1960 or later (SECURE 2.0; see the RMD calculator for your own first RMD year). In practice this means you can start making QCDs years before you have any RMD to satisfy: someone who turns 70½ in 2026 but doesn't reach RMD age until 2028 or 2029 can already be giving this way, with no RMD in the picture yet -- the gift simply isn't taxable income, full stop.

The 2026 dollar limit: $111,000 per person

The aggregate amount you can exclude from income as QCDs in 2026 is $111,000, up from $108,000 in 2025 (IRS Notice 2025-67). This is a per-person limit tied to that person's own IRA:

  • A single IRA owner can exclude up to $111,000 of QCDs for the year, across one or more traditional IRAs.
  • A married couple can combine up to $222,000 -- but only if each spouse gives from their own IRA and each spouse independently meets the 70½ age rule. One spouse can't use the other's unused limit, and a spouse under 70½ can't make a QCD at all, even if their spouse is well past the age and the limit.

What has to be true for a distribution to qualify

  • Direct transfer only. The money must move trustee-to-trustee, straight from the IRA custodian to the charity. A check made out to you, even if you immediately forward it, doesn't count.
  • From a traditional IRA -- including an inactive SEP or SIMPLE IRA (one not receiving an employer contribution for that plan year). An SEP or SIMPLE IRA that's still receiving contributions doesn't qualify. QCDs are not available from a 401(k), 403(b), or other workplace plan.
  • To an eligible charity. Most public charities qualify. A QCD cannot go to a donor-advised fund, a private foundation, or a supporting organization.
  • Would otherwise be taxable. The distribution has to be the kind of withdrawal that would normally be included in your income if you took it yourself.

How a QCD interacts with your RMD

If you're already RMD age, a QCD counts toward that year's RMD, dollar for dollar, up to the RMD amount -- so a QCD equal to or larger than your RMD satisfies all of it, using none of your own cash and none of your taxable income. A QCD smaller than your RMD satisfies that much of it; you (or a later QCD, if you have limit left) still need to take the rest by the deadline. If you're 70½ but not yet RMD age, there's no RMD to satisfy yet, but the QCD is still excluded from income -- you're simply choosing to take money out of the IRA, tax-free, before you're required to take any out at all.

Run your own age, RMD and gift amount through the QCD eligibility calculator to see whether you qualify, how much of the $111,000 you can use, how much of your RMD it covers, and the AGI effect below.

Why the AGI effect can matter more than the giving

A QCD isn't a charitable deduction -- it's an exclusion. The money never enters your adjusted gross income (AGI) at all, which is a stronger result than deducting the same gift after taking it as cash: a deduction can be limited by whether you itemize, by the new 0.5%-of-AGI floor on itemized gifts, or (for non-itemizers) by the $1,000/$2,000 cap on deducting cash gifts. None of those limits apply to a QCD, because the income was never there to begin with. (For the dollar-for-dollar tax comparison between a QCD and taking the RMD as cash and donating it, see the QCD vs. cash gift guide and its calculator.)

A lower AGI can also help in places that have nothing to do with the charitable deduction itself:

  • Medicare premiums (IRMAA). Your Part B and Part D premiums are set from your MAGI from two years earlier, in cliff-edge tiers -- crossing a threshold by $1 adds the full next tier's surcharge. A QCD that keeps MAGI under a threshold this year can be worth more than its tax savings two years from now. See the IRMAA guide and the IRMAA calculator.
  • How much of your Social Security is taxable. That calculation also starts from AGI (as "provisional income"); keeping an RMD out of AGI via a QCD can keep more of a Social Security benefit untaxed. See how much Social Security is taxable and the taxability calculator.

Worked example 1: a QCD that more than covers the RMD

Helen, born in 1952, turns 74 in 2026 -- her RMD age was 73, so she's already taking RMDs. Her IRA balance on December 31, 2025 was $300,000, and her age-74 divisor from the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table is 25.5, so her 2026 RMD is $300,000 ÷ 25.5 = $11,764.71 (figures from the RMD calculator). She's 74, well past 70½, so she's eligible. She directs $15,000 from her IRA straight to her church as a QCD. The full $15,000 is excluded from her income -- none of it touches her AGI -- and because $15,000 is more than her $11,764.71 RMD, the QCD satisfies 100% of it; she doesn't need to take anything else from the account this year. The extra $3,235.29 beyond the RMD is simply additional tax-free giving, still well inside her $111,000 annual limit.

Worked example 2: a couple where only one spouse qualifies

Raj is 73 in 2026 (RMD age for his birth year) with a $9,000 RMD; his wife Maria is 69. Raj can make a QCD from his own IRA: giving $9,000 satisfies his RMD completely and is excluded from their joint return's AGI. Maria cannot make a QCD this year at all, even though she also has an IRA and even though Raj already qualifies -- she won't turn 70½ until partway through next year. If Maria withdraws from her own IRA and gives the cash to charity this year, it's a normal taxable distribution to her, deductible only under the regular charity-deduction rules (the $1,000/$2,000 non-itemizer cap, or the 0.5%-of-AGI floor if they itemize) -- not excluded from income the way Raj's QCD is. Once Maria turns 70½, she gets her own $111,000 limit from her own IRA, on top of Raj's, for a combined ceiling of $222,000 -- but not before then, and not by borrowing room from Raj's limit.

A separate, rarer option: the one-time split-interest QCD

Beyond the regular annual QCD, there's a one-time-in-a-lifetime election to direct up to $55,000 (2026; $54,000 in 2025, also from Notice 2025-67) from an IRA to a charitable remainder trust (annuity trust or unitrust) or a charitable gift annuity -- entities that pay income back to the donor or a spouse for life or a term, with the remainder going to charity. It follows the same 70½ age rule and direct-transfer requirement as a regular QCD, but comes with its own narrow conditions (the trust must be funded exclusively by QCDs, payments are fixed-percentage and taxed as ordinary income to the recipient, and the income interest can only go to the IRA owner and/or their spouse) that make it a specialist move, not a routine one. This guide and its calculator don't model it -- if you're considering one, work through the details with the charity, trust company, or advisor setting it up.

Where to go next

Sources: IRC §408(d)(8) (qualified charitable distributions: age 70½, direct-transfer requirement, eligible IRAs and charities); IRS Notice 2025-67 (2026 cost-of-living adjustments: the $111,000 annual QCD limit, up from $108,000 in 2025, and the $55,000 one-time split-interest limit, up from $54,000); IRS Publication 590-B (QCD mechanics and the Uniform Lifetime Table used for RMDs). This is general information current as of October 2026, not tax advice for your specific return.