QCD Limit 2026: $111,000
Qualified charitable distribution rules, in plain English

A qualified charitable distribution (QCD) is money your IRA custodian sends straight to a charity. For 2026 you can give up to $111,000 this way, per person, from age 70½. The money never counts as income, it counts toward your required minimum distribution, and you do not need to itemize. Once in your life, $55,000 of it can go to a charitable gift annuity or charitable remainder trust instead.

Tax year 2026 · Updated October 2026 · IRS Notice 2025-67 and IRC §408(d)(8)

The 2026 QCD numbers

  • $111,000 per person for 2026, up from $108,000 in 2025. Spouses each have their own limit, from their own IRAs.
  • $55,000 one-time election for a split-interest gift, such as a charitable gift annuity or charitable remainder trust, up from $54,000. It sits inside the $111,000, not on top of it.
  • Age 70½ on the day the money leaves the IRA.
  • December 31, 2026: a gift for 2026 has to leave the IRA by then. Custodians need time, so start by early December.

Both dollar figures come from IRS Notice 2025-67, which says the QCD limit "is increased from $108,000 to $111,000." Fidelity's QCD page gives the same $111,000 and $55,000. For next year, see the QCD limit for 2027; we post it the day the IRS does.

What is a qualified charitable distribution?

Most charitable tax breaks are deductions: money comes to you, you give it away, and you subtract it later if the rules allow. A QCD works earlier. Your custodian sends the money directly to the charity, and the tax code leaves it out of your income altogether. Nothing to itemize, and nothing for the deduction limits to cut.

"So much of the aggregate amount of qualified charitable distributions with respect to a taxpayer made during any taxable year which does not exceed $100,000 shall not be includible in gross income of such taxpayer for such taxable year." Internal Revenue Code section 408(d)(8)(A). The $100,000 is the base Congress wrote; it is indexed for inflation, and the 2026 figure is $111,000 per IRS Notice 2025-67.

Who qualifies: age 70½, not your RMD age

You can make a QCD from age 70½. Required minimum distributions start later, at 73, or 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. So there are a few years when a QCD is open to you and no RMD is due yet.

Sources: the 70½ age is in IRC section 408(d)(8)(B); the RMD ages are in section 401(a)(9)(C)(v). Fidelity's QCD and RMD pages give the same ages.

Does a QCD count toward my RMD?

Yes. IRS Publication 590-B says it plainly: "A QCD will count towards your required minimum distribution." Fidelity says the same. If your RMD this year is $20,000 and you send $8,000 to charity as a QCD, the other $12,000 is what you still have to take, and only that $12,000 is taxed. To work out your own RMD and how much of it a gift covers, use our IRA giving calculator.

Why a QCD beats a cash gift in 2026

Two new 2026 rules shrink ordinary charitable deductions. Itemized gifts now count only above 0.5% of your adjusted gross income (IRC section 170(b)(1)(I)), and in the top bracket itemized deductions are trimmed so they save at most 35 cents on the dollar (section 68). Both rules reach deductions. A QCD is not a deduction; it never enters your income. So neither rule touches it. The full 2026 deduction rules are on the 2026 donation tax deduction page.

New York starts its income tax from federal adjusted gross income, so money that never enters federal income does not reach your New York return either.

The rules that trip people

  • IRA only. No 401(k), no 457, and no SEP or SIMPLE IRA.
  • Direct transfer. The custodian pays the charity. If the money touches your account first, it is a withdrawal and a separate gift.
  • Public charities only. Donor-advised funds and 509(a)(3) supporting organizations are excluded. NYC Honor Foundation qualifies: it is a 501(c)(3) public charity, EIN 42-1836369, classified 509(a)(2).
  • No double benefit. Money left out of income as a QCD cannot also be deducted.
  • Keep the receipt. You need the charity's written acknowledgment, as for any gift.

How to do a QCD, step by step

  1. Call your IRA custodian or use its online form and ask for a "qualified charitable distribution."
  2. Give the payee: NYC Honor Foundation Inc., EIN 42-1836369, 7720 82nd St, Glendale, NY 11385-7635.
  3. Tell us it is coming at eslyn@nychonor.org. Custodian checks often arrive with no donor name, and this is how we thank you and send your acknowledgment.
  4. At tax time, tell your preparer the distribution was a QCD. The 1099-R from your custodian shows the full amount.

How to donate from your IRA to charity works out your RMD, the share a gift covers, and the exact words for your custodian. The QCD calculator compares a QCD with a cash gift on your numbers. Giving from a donor-advised fund instead? Here is how.

Sources

The 2026 Giving Checklist

The December deadlines and the three numbers to remember, on one printable page. Enter your email and the download appears right here.

Not tax advice. NYC Honor Foundation is a charity, not a tax firm; talk to your own tax professional before you move money.

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