Every January, financial advisors get the same call from retirees who just wrote a five-figure check to their favorite charity.
The call is usually some version of: can I still deduct this?
And the answer, for many of them, is no—or at least not in the way they hoped.
That's because the standard deduction has ballooned since 2017, and most retirees now take it.
When you take the standard deduction, your charitable gifts stop lowering your tax bill.
You can give away $10,000 and watch your taxable income stay exactly where it was.
There's a workaround built into the tax code that doesn't get nearly enough attention: the qualified charitable distribution, or QCD.
If you're 70½ or older, you can send money directly from an IRA to a qualified charity.
The transfer counts toward your required minimum distribution, but it never shows up as income on your tax return.
You're not itemizing anything or proving anything to the IRS.
The money simply skips your taxable income on the way out the door.
You can move up to $105,000 per person in 2025, and married couples with separate IRAs can each do it, doubling the ceiling.
The charity must be a legitimate 501(c)(3), and the check has to go straight from the IRA custodian to the organization.
If the money touches your checking account first, you've just made a taxable withdrawal and a separate donation, and the QCD benefit evaporates.
Retirees who don't itemize, which is most of them.
Also anyone whose income triggers higher Medicare premiums—those IRMAA surcharges are based on modified adjusted gross income, and a QCD keeps that number down.
Same story for people worried about the taxation of Social Security benefits, which can creep up as other income rises.
And if you're in a low bracket with a modest IRA, the math gets less dramatic.
People with large traditional IRAs and no interest in itemizing are the sweet spot.
Donor-advised funds don't qualify, no matter how charitable they sound.
Neither do private foundations or most supporting organizations.
You can't direct a QCD into a gift annuity or a charitable remainder trust.
And the custodian has to cooperate—some brokerage platforms make this harder than it should be, so it pays to ask before December.
A check that leaves the IRA in late December but lands at the charity in January may not count for the year you intended.
The one-time election to fund a charitable gift annuity or remainder trust with up to $54,000 in 2025 adds another layer, but it's a narrow tool that most people will never need.
Here's the part the financial industry doesn't shout about: QCDs reduce the assets in your IRA, which is often the worst account to inherit.
Heirs pay ordinary income tax on traditional IRA withdrawals.
Giving from that account first, while leaving taxable brokerage or Roth accounts to family, is a cleaner estate move than most people realize.
The catch, as always, is that this only works if you plan ahead.
Your IRA custodian does not love December paperwork.
The QCD isn't glamorous and it won't make anyone rich.
But for retirees who give regularly and take the standard deduction, it's one of the few remaining ways to get the tax code to cooperate with generosity.
Final Thoughts
Ask your advisor or custodian whether your IRA and your charity can make it work—before the calendar forces your hand.