Early 2020, as the COVID situation was becoming imminent, we decided to take an IRA distribution to pay off our mortgage balance out of concern that there would be a long term market downturn. The distribution was paid directly to our mortgage/bank, so these funds never hit our personal bank account. Is this distribution considered income even though it was essentially transferred from one asset to another? Would there be any "exhange" tax laws that apply to this situation?
Thank you
