Qualified charitable distribution calculator
Giving straight from an IRA satisfies your required distribution without the money ever becoming income. This is what that is worth.
- Given straight from the IRA
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- Above the limit, cannot qualify
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- RMD satisfied by the gift
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- RMD still to take as income
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- Taxable income avoided
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What this is actually calculating.
A qualified charitable distribution sends money from an IRA directly to a charity once you are 70 and a half. It counts toward your required minimum distribution, and, unlike any other withdrawal, it never appears in your income at all.
That is the whole advantage, and it is larger than people expect. Taking the distribution and then writing a cheque only helps if you itemise, and most retirees take the standard deduction, so the gift produced no deduction at all while the withdrawal was taxed in full. From 2026 a non-itemiser can deduct up to $1,000 of cash giving, $2,000 on a joint return, so the comparison here overstates the edge by the tax on that much. For anyone who itemises, the cash gift is deductible against a new floor of half a percent of adjusted gross income, and the QCD's advantage is the income it never creates rather than a deduction.
The parts that decide the answer.
Take it before the rest of the RMD
The first dollars out of the account in a year are the ones that satisfy the required distribution. Take the whole RMD in January and a gift made in December cannot count against it, however the cheque is written.
Deductible IRA contributions after 70 and a half reduce it
SECURE 2.0 offsets the amount you can exclude, dollar for dollar and cumulatively, by any deductible IRA contribution made from 70 and a half onwards. An owner still working and still funding an IRA can find the exclusion reduced to nothing.
It works because it is never income
A deduction reduces taxable income. An exclusion means the income never arrives. That difference is why the QCD beats giving cash for anyone taking the standard deduction, which is most retirees.
Lower income helps beyond the tax
Keeping the distribution out of your income also keeps it out of the figure that sets Medicare surcharges two years later and determines how much of your Social Security is taxable.
It has to go direct
The money must move from the IRA custodian to the charity. Taking it yourself first and forwarding it makes it an ordinary taxable distribution, and that mistake cannot be undone.
Not every charity qualifies
Donor-advised funds and private foundations are excluded, which catches people out because they are otherwise common giving vehicles.
Before you rely on it.
When can I start?
At 70 and a half, which is earlier than the RMD start age. Between those two ages a QCD still excludes the money from income even though nothing is yet required.
Does it have to come from an IRA?
Traditional IRAs qualify. Employer plans such as 401(k)s do not, so money there has to be rolled to an IRA first.
What if I give more than the limit?
The excess is an ordinary taxable distribution. It may still be deductible if you itemise, but it loses the exclusion.
About this calculator.
An illustration, not advice
This is an educational illustration, not investment, tax, or legal advice, and not a recommendation or projection of any particular result. It uses only the assumptions you enter.
Real returns are not this smooth
Where a return is involved it is treated as constant, which no real portfolio is. Actual results will differ, and a sequence of poor early returns can change an outcome substantially even when the average holds.
Nothing you type leaves your browser
Every calculation runs on your own machine. Nothing you enter is transmitted or stored, and none of it reaches me unless you ask for a PDF and give me your details.
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