QCD from an inherited IRA
Yes, once you are 70½. The 2026 rules

The short answer

Yes. If you inherited an IRA and you are 70½ or older, you can have that IRA send a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) straight to a charity. The age that counts is yours, not the age of the person who left you the account. For 2026 you can give up to $111,000 this way, and the gift stays out of your taxable income.

This is not a gray area. The IRS answered the question directly when QCDs began, and the tax code ties the age test to the person the account is now kept for, which after a death is the beneficiary.

What the IRS says

IRS Notice 2007-7, question 37, asks whether a QCD can come from an IRA kept for a beneficiary who has reached 70½. The answer begins: "Yes." It goes on to say the exclusion is available for an IRA kept for a beneficiary after the owner's death "if the beneficiary has attained age 70½ before the distribution is made."

The tax code says the same thing in its own words. Section 408(d)(8)(B) allows a QCD only once "the individual for whose benefit the plan is maintained" has reached 70½.

Custodians follow it. Fidelity lists inherited IRAs among the accounts a QCD can come from, and says it reports a QCD from an inherited IRA as a death distribution.

Sources: IRS Notice 2007-7, Q&A 37; the tax code, IRC section 408(d)(8)(B); Fidelity, Qualified charitable distributions.

The rules for a QCD from an inherited IRA

• You must be 70½ on the day the money leaves. If you inherit at 65, you wait until you are 70½, even if the owner was older.
• The money goes straight from the IRA to the charity. If it is paid to you first, it is an ordinary withdrawal and taxed as one.
• $111,000 for 2026, per person. That limit covers all of your QCDs for the year together, from your own IRAs and inherited ones.
• Not to a donor-advised fund or a supporting organization. The law leaves both out. Why a QCD can't go to a donor-advised fund.
• No deduction on top. The gift is left out of your income instead, so you do not also list it as a charitable deduction.
• Keep the charity's letter. You need the same written acknowledgment you would need for any gift.

Sources: IRS Notice 2025-67 ($111,000 for 2026); Notice 2007-7, Q&A 34, 35 and 39; IRS Publication 590-B.

Does it count toward the inherited IRA's required withdrawals?

IRS Publication 590-B says a QCD counts toward your required minimum distribution. Whether you have to take money out of an inherited IRA each year, and how much, depends on when the owner died and how you are related to them, and the rules for inherited IRAs are different from the rules for your own. Ask your custodian or tax preparer for this year's required amount before you plan the gift around it.

Source: IRS Publication 590-B, chapter 1 ("A QCD will count towards your required minimum distribution") and "What if You Inherit an IRA?"

How it shows up at tax time

Your custodian sends a Form 1099-R. For an inherited IRA, box 7 carries code 4, the code for a death distribution. The IRS added code Y to mark a QCD, used together with code 4 for an inherited IRA; for tax year 2026 the custodian may use it but does not have to. Either way, your own return is where you claim the QCD: the full distribution on Form 1040 line 4a, only the part that was not a QCD on line 4b, and the "QCD" box on line 4c. How to report a QCD on your tax return.

Sources: IRS 2026 Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498 ("Code 4 for a QCD from an inherited (death distribution) IRA"; "For tax year 2026, the use of code Y to report a QCD is optional"); 2025 Form 1040 instructions, lines 4a to 4c.

What to tell the custodian

Each custodian has its own form for inherited accounts, so ask for it by name. The full words for a gift to NYC Honor, with our EIN and address, are in the box below.

This is education, not advice

NYC Honor Foundation is a charity, not a tax or investment advisory firm. Talk to your own tax professional before you move money. Checked against the sources named on this page on October 14, 2026.