You don't *have* to claim this as a Qualified Funding Distribution in the follow-up questions to entering the Form 1099-R, but you can't claim it as both a QCD and a Schedule A deduction. If you want to, you can report it only as a Schedule A deduction, but there is no benefit to doing so. It's more beneficial (or at least no less beneficial) to report it as a QCD since reporting it as a QCD lowers the AGI used to determine the taxability of your Social Security benefits and the premiums you must pay to receive Medicare Part B. It also lowers your taxable income more than would be the case if without this as a Schedule A deduction you would use the Standard Deduction.
