Can RMDs from an inherited IRA be sent directly to a charity as Qualified non taxable distributions, if I am under 70.5?

Can RMDs from an inherited IRA be sent directly to a charity as Qualified non taxable distributions, if an individual is under 70.5?

Retirement tax questions

No. It's not even an RMD, since you are under age 70.5.

You must take a taxable distribution, and then send it to the charity yourself, and claim it on Schedule A.

Retirement tax questions

Oh, wait....it's inherited? From whom? Did you roll it over to your own IRA?

Retirement tax questions

Under the QCD rules, the IRA owner must be at least age 70 ½ to do the QCD to the charity (and notably, the IRA owner must actually be age 70 ½ or older on the date of distribution, not merely turning 70 ½ sometime that year). Under IRS Notice 2007-7, Q&A-37, even a beneficiary of an inherited IRA can be eligible for a QCD, as long as the beneficiary themselves is at least age 70 ½ on the date of the distribution.
dmertz
Level 15

Retirement tax questions

More accurately, the individual for whom the account is *maintained* (in this case the beneficiary of the inherited IRA) must be age 70½ or older to make a QCD.  (TurboTax mistakenly also requires that you indicate a birthdate for the original owner that implies that, at the time of the QCD, the original owner would have been age 70½ had they lived, but there is no such requirement in the tax code.)

Retirement tax questions

These responses are very very helpful  - it can be confusing