Year-end Tax Tip. Avoid taxes on an #RMD with a #charitabledonation. Seniors who have a traditional 401(k) or #IRA account must take a required minimum distribution each year once they reach age 70 1/2. Those who don’t need this money for living expenses may want to consider having it sent directly to a charity as a qualified charitable distribution. “If you take it out as a qualified charitable distribution, it doesn’t increase your adjusted gross income,” says Mike Piershale, president of Piershale Financial Group in Crystal Lake, Illinois. “It can also hold down the amount of# that is taxed.”