Retirement tax questions

My husband was approximately  69 1/2 when the RMD was taken out from the inherited IRA.  The IRA was inherited in 2016 so falls under old rules for distribution and he has been taking RMD's since that time.  We had been told by financial advisor (multiple times) that direct distributions of part of RMD were not considered taxable income (so QCD) back as far as 2017 with no mention of age requirement.  Is this a tax law change since that time?  This was the 1st time we have tried to use the QCD.