A QCD and a Roth Conversion in Every State, 2026

Is a QCD or a Roth conversion worth more in some states than others?

Yes, by the state line alone. For a retired couple, a $10,000 QCD in place of a cash gift changes federal tax by −$960 in every state, and state tax by $0 in 18 of 51 jurisdictions and by up to −$2,146 in Connecticut. A $50,000 conversion adds $8,811 of federal tax everywhere, and $0 of state tax in 15 jurisdictions, up to $5,735 in Maryland (median $2,575 where it adds any).

The same two year-end moves, priced in all 50 states and DC for two retiree households: a $10,000 qualified charitable distribution that replaces a $10,000 cash gift (and $10,000 of the IRA withdrawals that funded it), and a Roth conversion of $25,000 or $50,000. Federal tax changes the same way everywhere; the state line is where they differ.

The two households

• Single: Single, 74: $30,000 Social Security, $25,000 pension, $25,000 IRA withdrawals (part of the RMD), $10,000 a year to charity. No interest, dividends or short-term gains (so every state line is the state engine's exact result).
• Couple: Couple, 74 and 72: $50,000 Social Security, $40,000 pension, $40,000 IRA withdrawals, $10,000 a year to charity. No interest, dividends or short-term gains (so every state line is the state engine's exact result).

The state line, all 51 jurisdictions

Some states have income cliffs (an exclusion or exemption that ends at an income limit), which is why a small move can change their tax by more than its size suggests. A QCD lowers state tax only where the IRA withdrawal it replaces would have been taxed: states with no income tax, or with a retirement exclusion that already covers it, show $0. IRMAA: the couple's $50,000 conversion changes the 2028 surcharge by $0 in every state (2026 tiers). A conversion is a 2026 cost, paid to lower tax later; whether it pays depends on the rate the money would face later.

Price a QCD or a conversion in your own state
Free: your 2026 baseline, one move in full and your combined total.

Download the data

Every row on this page, with its inputs: year-end-moves-by-state-2026.csv · year-end-moves-by-state-2026.json (CC0).

Questions

Does a QCD lower state income tax?

In most states that tax IRA withdrawals, yes: the QCD never enters federal AGI, which is where most state returns start. For the couple here it lowers state tax in 33 of 51 jurisdictions.

Why does a QCD lower federal tax even for someone who takes the standard deduction?

Because the gift leaves the IRA without ever being income. A cash gift by a non-itemizer is deductible only up to the small 2026 non-itemizer amount; the QCD excludes the whole amount.

Which states add nothing to a Roth conversion?

For the couple's $50,000 conversion, 15 of the 51 jurisdictions: those with no income tax and those whose retirement exclusion covers it at this income. The full list is in the table and the CSV.

Sources and method

Every figure was computed by the module behind Year-end Tax Moves, which runs QCD, conversion, harvest, giving, RMD and payment changes through QuantCalc's open tax engines — federal 2.0.0 and state 1.12.0, the same engines behind the federal and state tax APIs — for the 2026 tax year. Each move's effect is the engine's result with the move minus the engine's result without it. The engine documentation lists the official source of every rule; the rules this study leans on:

• Notice 2025-67: 2026 retirement plan limitations
• 26 U.S. Code § 408
• 26 U.S. Code § 170
• Rev. Proc. 2025-32: 2026 inflation-adjusted items (incl. One Big Beautiful Bill amendments)
• 26 U.S. Code § 86
• 26 U.S. Code § 151
• 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles

Labelled assumptions. Federal tax is the return as filed (the Tax Table step below $100,000 of taxable income). IRMAA: 2026 MAGI sets 2028 Medicare premiums; the 2028 tiers are not published, so the 2026 tiers and premiums are used (indexed tiers will be higher, so this can overstate an IRMAA effect but not miss one). ACA: the 2025 poverty line governs 2026 coverage; the benchmark premium is the engine's state-level approximation for the household's ages, all 12 months. State: a joint return is figured on the household's combined income at the filer's age (the state API's household path). Households are illustrations, not averages; the full inputs and the exact API request of every row are in the data files.

An estimate, not tax advice. These are computed examples for the 2026 tax year from QuantCalc's open tax engine (federal 2.0.0, state 1.12.0). Your own return depends on facts these examples do not include. Check any move with your tax preparer or account custodian before acting.

@misc{quantcalc2026thesameyearendmoveisworthdifferentamount,
  title  = {The Same Year-End Move Is Worth Different Amounts in Each State: QCD and Roth Conversion, 51 Jurisdictions (2026)},
  author = {{QuantCalc Research}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://quantcalc.app/research/year-end-moves-by-state-2026/},
  note   = {Accessed <date>}
}