If you intend to take a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) for your 2022 Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), plan to do so by early December to give the charity sufficient time to deposit the funds prior to December 31. The charitable distribution has to be removed from your IRA and cleared prior to year-end, as distributions are based on calendar year processing. Do not wait until the end of the year for a QCD.
The Tax Cut and Jobs Act (2017) made significant changes to the tax code, including nearly doubling the standard deduction for married couples over age 65 to $28,700 in 2022. This higher standard deduction decreased the tax advantages of some charitable donations that were traditionally given with after-tax dollars. To combat this, below we explore one way in which you can reduce your taxes and still donate to charity.
Qualified Charitable Distributions
Under the SECURE Act, if you are an individual age 70 ½ after January 1, 2020, you do not need to begin to take your RMDs from your traditional IRA until age 72. Prior to the Act, individuals had to start taking the RMD at age 70 ½.
Note that IRA distributions are taxable to an individual when they are paid to an individual.
For tax planning purposes, if you have some of your charitable donations made directly from your IRA rather than directly from your other funds, it will likely provide you a tax savings in 2021. This is referred to as a QCD. With a QCD, you authorize your IRA custodian to make a distribution directly to a charity you select rather than to you. Further, the QCD is treated as part of your RMD for the year.
While the SECURE Act changed the age to begin taking an RMD, the Act did not change the age that you could begin using a QCD. The QCD is only available to those over age 70 ½.
Tax Treatment of a QCD: You do not include in your income the amount of the QCD paid to the charity. Further, you are not able to deduct this amount going to the charity. You will receive a year-end Form 1099-R for the total IRA distributions including QCD amounts. However, the taxable IRA amount on a return will be less than QCD amounts. Individuals are limited to $100,000 of QCDs in a year.
One other possible non-tax benefit with a QCD relates to individuals on Medicare. If you have higher income, the law requires an adjustment to your monthly premiums for Medicare Part B (medical insurance) and Medicare prescription drug coverage. Higher income beneficiaries pay higher premiums for Part B and prescription drug coverage. This affects less than 5% of people with Medicare, so most people do not pay a higher premium. If your adjusted gross income (AGI) is above $176,000 ($182,000 for 2022 and $194,200 for 2023) using married filing jointly, your Medicare premiums are increased. Depending on your situation, and since the amount of a QCD is not included in your AGI, use of a QCD might keep your Medicare premiums from being increased. Here is a link to the Social Security website that discusses this adjustment (please note the SSA adjusts these thresholds and premiums each year).
Using this QCD approach, you direct your IRA custodian to send a check to your church or favorite not-for-profit as either a one-time donation or a monthly payment depending on your preference. At the end of year, you will receive a Form 1099-R for the full amount of your IRA distributions for the year, at which point you will need to let your CPA know what QCD amounts you made from your IRA. Your tax return then reflects the gross amount received, but the QCD is subtracted to arrive at the net taxable amount. You will also need a charitable acknowledgement of the QCD amount from the charity.
Here is an example of the tax savings when using a portion of your RMD as a QCD from your IRA. A taxpayer has an RMD of $100,000 for the year and plans on making $20,000 of charitable contributions. They are considering whether to use a QCD instead for these contributions. A taxpayer over age 72 making all their charitable donations with their IRA as a QCD would benefit from this tax strategy.
As you can see in our example, the same $20,000 amount was given to charity, but the overall taxable income by using the QCD alternative is lower by $18,700. This generates lower federal and state taxes. If your marginal tax rate is about 32%, you would save approximately $5,984 in this example (or, $320 for every $1,000 given to charity via the QCD).
Summary
This tax strategy is powerful and will allow those over the age of 72 to continue giving to charity while also reducing your overall tax. This may perhaps even allow you to leverage larger charitable contributions while staying within your budget.
Please consult your personal tax advisor to discuss the QCD options with your IRA.
About our Authors
Andrew Paoni
As a partner with Sikich Financial, Andrew Paoni, MBA, AIF®, CFP®, CFA, specializes in portfolio management and financial planning, helping clients learn how to reach their personal financial goals. Andrew has over 14 years of experience as a financial advisor and assisting clients in spending and saving money efficiently so that they can enjoy a successful financial future.
David Sauerburger
David P. Sauerburger, CPA, is the partner-in-charge of the St. Louis office. He has more than 26 years of experience and coordinates all tax services provided by the St. Louis office. David has expertise in tax planning, preparation and as a consultant to business development. He works with individuals, small to medium-sized business clients, trusts and estates.
