@KT44 - the whole idea of the QCD is create an incentive for people to give to charity. the benefit is lower taxes.
In your example, with no QCD, you would report $40k of income and be taxed accordingly on that.
but by directing $20k of the IRA distribution to a charity, that means only the remaining $20k is reported as income and taxed according, resuling in a lower tax bill than if no QCD occured.
