How to Report a QCD on Your Tax Return

To receive the benefits of a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) from a traditional IRA, you must report it correctly on your income tax return.

The IRA custodian will issue a Form 1099-R reporting the distribution. The form will show the total amount of distributions from the IRA during the year, both QCDs and any other distributions, without distinguishing between QCDs and other distributions.

ou first report that full amount of the gross distributions on line 4a of your Form 1040. You subtract the amount of QCDs from the total and report the remaining amount on line 4b as the “Taxable amount.” If you’re preparing a paper form or your tax return preparation software allows, enter “QCD” next to line 4b.

This lets the IRS know you excluded some of the distributions as QCDs, so it won’t think you made a mistake or ask you to explain why you didn’t report all the distributions.