QCD availability for TIRAs held in banks.
I’ve had the good fortune to take advantage of QCDs for my TIRA at Fidelity Brokerage. My friend has TIRAs at a commercial bank (Cathay Bank) and apparently they do not offer the QCD option for RMDs. Are banks, in general, restricted from offering QCDs for TIRAs or is there something else going on? Must he transfer his TIRAs to a brokerage house to utilize QCDs? I thank you in advance for any guidance you can provide. Frank
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Fri, 2018-02-02 18:09
There is no restriction other than the bank’s self imposed choice not to issue QCD checks. There is no special reporting for a QCD, so the bank’s only cost would be to issue a check to a payee other than the IRA owner and mail the check to the IRA owner for delivery. To even come close to the benefit of a QCD, your friend would have to itemize deductions that exceed the standard deduction by at least the amount of the donation, and even then his AGI will be higher which might negatively effect other tax provisions.