By Elliot Raphaelson
From Tribune Content Agency
Question: I recently read that in order to take a qualified charitable distribution from your IRA, you had to take it first before any other withdrawals. Is that correct?
Answer: No. It is not necessary to take a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) as your first Individual Retirement Account (IRA) withdrawal. However, the regulations specify that your first withdrawals are applied to meeting your required minimum distribution (RMD). So you can only make a charitable contribution using the QCD option if you have not yet satisfied your RMD for that year.
For example, assume you have to take a $5,000 RMD for the year. If you withdraw $5,000 from your IRA without making a charitable contribution, you could not then initiate a QCD for that year. If you withdraw $1,000, however, you could still contribute up to $4,000 in a QCD later in the year….