QCD check written in December 2022, but not mailed to recipient until January 2023

[RMDmissed2022]

I have previously written check to charities on 12-31 and claimed them on that year's income taxes, even though they were not received by the charity until January of the next year.

Does this also apply to QCD checks written before the end of the year, but not received by me or mailed to the charity until January?

Thanks

[Bsch4477]

Since the funds left your account before the end of the year I would think that they are deductible that year.  

[BillM223]

QCDs must be transferred directly from your IRA trustee to the charity, not by means of a check that passes through you. See this IRS page. 

Or are you asking about something other than a QCD?

[Bsch4477]

@BillM223  Vanguard sends the charitable donation check made out to the Vanguard client who then gives the check to the charitable organization. I guess the fact that the check comes from Vanguard made out to the organization satisfies the requirement for direct transfer. 

[dmertz]

[See my follow-up post below this one.]

This cannot be treated as a QCD for 2022.  To be a QCD for 2022 it must otherwise qualify to be treated as a charitable contribution for 2022.  Because is was not delivered to the charity before the end of 2022, it cannot be treated as a charitable contribution for 2022.  See When To Deduct in IRS Pub 526:  https://www.irs.gov/publications/p526#en_US_2021_publink1000229790

If this is an IRA with check-writing privileges and you wrote the check, this will not be a 2022 QCD but will instead be a 2023 QCD.  The IRA custodian will treat it as a 2023 distribution because the check will be processed in 2023.

If the check was produced by your IRA custodian, payable to the charity, given to you to be forwarded to the charity and reported on a 2022 Form 1099-R, it's not a QCD for either 2022 or for 2023.  It would instead be a non-QCD distribution and a regular charitable donation reportable on your 2023 tax return.

[dmertz]

I'm reconsidering my assertion that the distribution cannot be a 2022 QCD if a check prepared by the custodian was not sent to the charity before the end of 2022.  Section 408(d)(8)(C) says that the contribution must otherwise be deductible, but it doesn't specify that the the deduction would have to be eligible to be reported on the tax return for the same year as the year for which the distribution occurred.  Under these circumstances, it's probably reasonable to treat the distribution reported on a 2022 Form 1099-R as a QCD.

[RMDmissed2022]

Per IRS https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/reminder-to-ira-owners-age-70-and-a-half-or-over-qualified-charitable-d... :

Normally, distributions from a traditional individual retirement arrangement (IRA) are taxable when received. With a QCD, however, these distributions become tax-free as long as they're paid directly from the IRA to an eligible charitable organization.

QCDs can be made electronically, directly to the charity, or by check payable to the charity.

An IRA distribution, such as an electronic payment made directly to the IRA owner, does not count as a QCD. Likewise, a check made payable to the IRA owner is not a QCD.

In my case the checks were made out to the charity, but mailed to me to be forwarded to the charity.  In all cases the checks were drawn from my accounts before the end of the year.  In some cases I received the checks and mailed them by priority mail so they were received by the charity before the end of the year, but they may not have been deposited by the charity until January.  In other cases, I didn't receive the checks from the trustee until January after which they were promptly priority mailed to the charities.

Since the funds were removed from my IRA before the end of the year in all cases, can I treat all as 2022 QCD's that can be excluded as income on my 1040?

[Bsch4477]

As per answer below, yes. 

[dmertz]

I think it's reasonable to report all of these as QCDs (provided the total does not exceed $100,000) for 2022.  Because these were checks made payable by the IRA custodian to the charities directly and are reported on 2022 Forms 1099-R, they should qualify as QCDs even if not mailed to the charity until January.  The tax code and IRS only say that the contributions must otherwise be eligible to be reported as charitable deductions but nowhere do they specify that these contributions would need to be otherwise reportable as charitable deductions in the same year as the year the distribution is reported from the IRA.

Normally I would not do QCDs so close to the end of the year, though, to avoid any question.

[RMDmissed2022]

Thanks, that sounds reasonable to me.  Just wondering what IRS would think. 

Good advice about not waiting so late.  Though I am a confirmed procrastinator I will try to do better next year.