Qualified Charitable Distributions
If you are an IRA owner, the IRS requires that you withdraw a minimum amount (RMD) from your IRA each year after your required beginning date. However, there are some IRA owners who may not need the money or don’t want an RMD to push them into a higher tax bracket.
Is there an option for unwanted RMDs? For some IRA owners the answer is yes! The IRS allows certain IRA owners to request a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD).
Under the QCD provision, individual IRA owners over the age of 70½ are permitted to exclude up to $100,000 from their gross income. This distribution, however, must be paid directly to a qualified charity from their individual retirement accounts (excluding SEP or SIMPLE IRAs). This option may also be utilized by owners of an inherited IRA, but all of the rules still apply including the requirement that the individual inherited IRA owner be at least age 70½.
The QCD option was just made permanent in late December of 2015.
Source: www.irs.gov