Qualified Charitable Distribution from IRA(QCD)

Goal: Minimize your adjusted gross income while satisfying the annual required minimum distribution from your IRA.

Minimum Gift: Any amount up to $100,000

If you turned 70 ½ years of age before January 1, 2020 or 72 years of age sometime in 2020, you are required to take an annual distribution from your individual retirement account*. The amount of your required minimum distribution (RMD) will be added to your adjusted gross income (AGI) for income tax purposes.

If your philanthropic plans include supporting Lafayette, a direct contribution from your IRA to the College may be the most financially beneficial way for you to make a gift. As mentioned, under normal circumstances, the RMD from your IRA will increase your taxable income. While a QCD is not a tax-deductible gift, it does allow you to avoid an increase to your AGI which may be advantageous to your situation.

Donors turning 70 ½ after January 1, 2020 are no longer required to withdraw assets from an IRA until they turn 72, but they may still wish to make a QCD if they no longer itemize expenses or have reached the maximum for their charitable deductions in a given year.

Donors funding a legacy gift or making their annual fund contribution may benefit by supporting Lafayette through a QCD.

* As a provision of the CARES Act, required minimum distributions from IRA accounts are suspended for 2020.

Read how David Allen ’65 and Dick Garnett ’56 supported Lafayette through a qualified charitable distribution from an IRA.