Before your next IRA withdrawal, look at the gifts you still intend to make this year. If you’re at least 70½ and already plan to support a charity, your IRA custodian may be able to send the gift directly. A qualifying gift can count toward your required minimum distribution (RMD) while keeping those dollars out of your federal gross income. Once a withdrawal lands in your checking account, giving it away later has a different tax result.

One gift, two ways to make it

Imagine a 75-year-old retiree with a $40,000 IRA distribution requirement for 2026. She needs $30,000 for living expenses and wants to give $10,000 to her local food bank. Assume her IRA is entirely pretax, the food bank is eligible, and she qualifies to exclude the full gift.

If she withdraws $40,000 into checking and then writes the food bank a $10,000 check, the full $40,000 IRA withdrawal goes into her gross income. Any charitable deduction is a separate calculation on her tax return.

If her IRA custodian sends $10,000 directly to the food bank as a qualified charitable distribution (QCD), she can take the remaining $30,000 for herself. The same $40,000 leaves her IRA, the food bank receives the same gift, and $30,000 of IRA income goes on her return. She cannot also deduct the $10,000 she excluded.

The $10,000 difference is a difference in reported income. The difference in her tax bill depends on the rest of her return. That distinction matters when comparing the two approaches with a CPA.

Check eligibility before choosing the account

You must actually reach age 70½ by the date of the distribution. For example, someone who turned 70 on June 10 reaches 70½ on December 10. A November transfer would be too early. You can qualify even if you have no RMD due yet.

For 2026, the annual federal QCD exclusion limit is $111,000 per eligible individual. The limit applies across that person’s IRAs and charities combined. For a married couple, each eligible spouse makes gifts from their own IRA. If you deducted traditional IRA contributions for tax years in which you were 70½ or older, ask your CPA whether those deductions reduce the amount you can exclude.

A traditional IRA is a common source. An ongoing SEP or SIMPLE IRA is ineligible. Confirm the account type, the charity’s eligibility, and its exact payee name before requesting a transfer. A ticketed benefit dinner warrants a separate conversation because receiving something in return can disqualify the payment.

Planning a year-end IRA gift in Naples

If you spend the winter in Naples and your IRA custodian mails checks to your summer address, confirm where this payment will go. Ask the charity how it identifies gifts sent by custodians. A check that arrives with only the custodian’s name can be difficult to match to your pledge.

Bring the charity’s payee instructions, your latest IRA statement, and the date of your next automatic withdrawal. Our Naples financial planning team can help you compare the gift with the cash you need for the rest of the year and coordinate the timing with your CPA.

What if you already took your RMD?

Suppose the same retiree has already received all $40,000 in her bank account. She can still make a separate eligible QCD from her IRA this year. It won’t undo the taxable distribution she already received. If she gives another $10,000 directly from her IRA, a total of $50,000 will have left the account.

Partial withdrawals leave more flexibility. If she has taken $25,000 of the $40,000 requirement, a qualifying $10,000 gift would leave $5,000 still to distribute. Before changing an automatic December withdrawal, confirm that the gift has posted and reconcile the remaining amount with the custodian.

Coordinate the gift with a Roth conversion

A household considering both decisions can put three numbers on one page: the RMD still due, the amount already committed to charity, and the cash needed for spending. Resolve the RMD first. The required amount itself cannot be converted to a Roth IRA. Once it is satisfied, your CPA can model the taxable income from any additional amount you want to convert.

If you need the entire required distribution to cover household expenses, giving part of it away creates a cash shortfall. Identify what would pay those bills before directing the transfer. For some families, using cash already set aside for charitable gifts will be a better fit.

What to do before December 31

Start with the charity. Get its legal name, mailing or transfer instructions, and a contact who can confirm receipt. Let the organization know a gift is coming from your IRA custodian so it can match the payment to you.

Then call the custodian. Ask when it needs your instructions for a completed 2026 distribution, who will send the payment, and how you can verify completion. If you have a recurring withdrawal scheduled, review it alongside the proposed gift.

Keep the charity’s written acknowledgment and the IRA transaction confirmation together. Give both to your CPA with Form 1099-R. For 2026, custodians may use reporting code Y for an intended QCD, but the IRS makes that code optional. Your own records matter even when the form looks like an ordinary distribution.

The best time to have this conversation is while the money is still in the IRA. Pull up your latest statement, circle the amount still due this year, and write the names of the charities you already intend to support beside it. That gives your advisor and CPA a concrete decision to review.