QCD’s tainted by IRA contribution?

Taxpayer, who is over age 70-1/2 made a $7,000 QCD from his $70,000 2022 RMD, so that only $63,000 would be reportable as his taxable income.

Additionally, taxpayer has $10,000 of 2022 compensation income. His spouse has no compensation income of her own. Neither the taxpayer nor his spouse (also over age 70-1/2) are covered by an employer retirement plan.

Question: Can the spouse “borrow” $7,000 of the taxpayer’s compensation income to now make a deductible 2022 IRA contribution of her own (by April 18th) without “tainting” the QCD made by her spouse? It appears that an IRA contribution by the taxpayer would fall under the anti-abuse provisions of the Secure Act and deny the benefit of his $7,000 QCD. (There have been no previous post 70 1-2 IRA contributions previously made by either spouse.)

In essence, can married taxpayers who each have their own IRA account choose to use one account to receive post age 70-1/2 deductible contributions and the other to make QCD’s out of RMD’s? Does the fact that the spouse has no compensation income of her own affect the result

Also – would taxpayers living in a community property state affect the result?

Thanks to all who can weigh in on an answer.



  • The QCD anti abuse rules apply separately to each spouse. The spouse could make a 7000 deductible spousal TIRA contribution for 2022 (subject to MAGI deduction limits), but she could not make future QCDs without having the first 7000 of them offset. Taxpayer may qualify for a Roth contribution (also subject to MAGI limits) or a ND TIRA contribution with the remaining 3000 of taxable comp if desired, without offset of his QCD.
  • Community property rules would not affect the ability of the spouses to be treated separately for IRA/QCD purposes, therefore a strategy of making QCDs for one spouse and making deductible contributions for the other spouse could be used everywhere.

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