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QCD or Cash Gift?

2026 figures · reviewed September 5, 2026

Compares giving to charity by writing a check with giving straight from an IRA, and shows which saves more. About

In plain words. After age 70½ you can send money from an IRA directly to a charity, and it never counts as your income. Writing a check instead means taking the money out of the IRA first, which does count as income, and most retirees cannot deduct the gift because they take the standard deduction. This tool runs your whole tax return both ways and shows the difference, including the effect on how much of your Social Security is taxed and on Medicare premiums.

Why it matters. The same gift to the same charity can cost you thousands more one way than the other. If you give at all and have an IRA, this is worth checking once.

An example. A single person with $100,000 of income giving $10,000: from an IRA withdrawal and a check, the gift costs about $2,300 in extra tax. Sent from the IRA directly, it costs nothing extra.

Where it stops. It assumes you take the standard deduction; if you itemize and deduct the check, the gap narrows. The gift must go to a public charity, not a donor-advised fund or private foundation, and you must be 70½. Everything it leaves out.

$

The amount you plan to give this year. Either way, the money comes out of your IRA.

Pensions, IRA withdrawals, interest, and dividends. Include the withdrawal that would pay for a check.

The total benefit for the year, box 5 of your SSA-1099.

Filing status

This assumes everyone on the return is 65 or older and on Medicare. It also assumes the person giving is at least 70½, the age at which a gift straight from an IRA is allowed.

Saved this year by giving straight from the IRA
$1,200
Sending the gift straight from your IRA to the charity, which the law calls a qualified charitable distribution, cuts your federal tax from $7,076 to $5,876. A check paid for by an IRA withdrawal counts that withdrawal as income first, while a direct gift never does. The charity receives $10,000 either way.
Federal income tax for 2026, a check from an IRA withdrawal against a gift sent straight from the IRATwo bars. $7,076 of federal tax when the gift is a check paid for by a taxable IRA withdrawal. $5,876 when the same $10,000 goes straight from the IRA to the charity.$0$2k$4k$6k$8k$7kCheck from a withdrawalincome $111k$6kStraight from the IRAincome $101k
Social Security kept out of taxable income
$0
The taxable part of your benefit falls from $30,600 to $30,600
Saving as a share of the gift
12.0%
The check route taxes your last dollar at 12%
Medicare premium tier two years from now
Tier 0
The same either way

A check is paid with money that was taxed when it left the IRA. If you take the standard deduction, the check is not deducted at all. A gift sent straight from the IRA never counts as income. So it is not taxed, it does not make more of your Social Security taxable, it does not shrink the extra deduction for people 65 and older, and it does not push you into a higher Medicare premium tier. It also counts toward the year's required minimum withdrawal from the IRA.

This uses the 2026 federal brackets, the standard deduction, the extra deductions for people 65 and older, the Social Security taxation rules, the Medicare premium tiers, and the $111,000 yearly limit on gifts straight from an IRA set in Notice 2025-67. It assumes you take the standard deduction, that all income is ordinary income, and that there is no state tax. If you itemize and deduct the check, the gap narrows. Donor-advised funds and private foundations cannot receive a gift straight from an IRA. Educational, not advice.

This is a simplified model, not your actual tax return or plan. It only knows what you type in, leaves out rules that may apply to you, and cannot weigh the other facts and trade-offs a real decision depends on. Before you act, talk with a professional who knows your whole situation.

Educational only, not investment, tax, or legal advice. Results are hypothetical estimates that vary with each use and over time and are not guaranteed accurate or complete. Using this tool creates no client relationship with Considerate Capital, and the site that linked here is not affiliated with it. By using it you agree to the tool terms.