Picture a couple in their mid-seventies. They worked hard, saved faithfully, and retired with a traditional IRA they hoped would carry them the rest of the way. They give to their church and to a few ministries they love, and they have never thought of themselves as wealthy.
Then comes December. Their custodian reminds them that, because they are past 73, the IRS requires them to take a required minimum distribution from the IRA this year, whether they need the money or not. They take it. In April they discover that every dollar of it was taxed as ordinary income. It nudged them into a higher bracket, raised their Medicare premiums for the following year, and made more of their Social Security taxable.
Nobody told them there was another way.
There is a provision in the tax code that was written for exactly this situation. It is called a qualified charitable distribution, and it has been there since 2006. It lets anyone 70 1/2 or older send funds from an IRA directly to a charity. Because the money goes from the custodian to the charity and never passes through the owner's hands, it is never counted as income. It still satisfies the required minimum distribution. It does not matter whether you itemize. And it keeps your adjusted gross income lower, which is the number Medicare and Social Security look at.
In other words, that couple could have sent part or all of their required withdrawal to the ministries they already support, paid no tax on it, and quite possibly kept their Medicare premiums where they were. Same generosity, very different come tax season.
The rules are simple but they are precise. You must be 70 1/2 on the day of the gift, not just that year. The funds must come from an IRA, not a 401(k) or 403(b), although those can usually be rolled into an IRA first. The transfer must go straight from the custodian to the charity; a check made out to you and signed over does not count. The limit in 2026 is $111,000 per person. And the gift must be completed, not just requested, by December 31 to count for this year. Custodians get busy in December, so the time to start the conversation is now.
Rather than bury all of that in a blog post, we have put it on two pages: who qualifies, what to ask your custodian, ASON's legal name and EIN, and how the gift shows up on your tax return. It is written so you can hand it to your financial advisor or your custodian and they will know exactly what to do.
One more thing, and it may be the most important. The couple in that story is not unusual. They are your neighbors, your friends from church, your parents, your brother or sister. Most of them have never been told this either. The guide is written for gifts to ASON, but the same process works for any public charity they care about, and once they understand it they can use it anywhere. If you know someone who is 70 1/2 or older and has an IRA, print it and hand it to them, or forward this page. You may just save them a lot of money.
Sources: Internal Revenue Code Section 408(d)(8); IRS Publication 590-B; IRS Notice 2025-67. ASON International does not provide tax or legal advice. Please consult your tax or financial advisor about how a qualified charitable distribution applies to your situation.
