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It’s a confusing year for charitably minded seniors with traditional individual retirement accounts—and a good one to reconsider giving strategies.

Recent law changes are responsible. Late in 2019, Congress raised the age at which most savers are required to start taking money from their IRAs to age 72 from age 70½. But it left unchanged the age at which savers can donate IRA assets, which is still 70½.

Last month, I outlined how the CARES Act would affect required minimum distributions (RMDs) from retirement plans. But with complex legislation, new questions always arise. Here are answers to some of the most commonly asked questions since last month on RMDs.

The CARES Act, the legislation signed into law by President Trump in March, generated many questions from readers. Below we answer some of them.

Q: You wrote in a recent article that "the law also doubles the amount 401(k) participants can take in loans from an account for the next six months to the lower of $100,000 or 100% of the account balance. IRAs don’t permit loans."

It seems as if this part of Bill S.3548, speaks to individual retirement account (IRA) loans:

People who took a required minimum distribution (RMD) in 2020 and want to roll it back into an IRA because of the RMD waiver, a reprieve granted by the CARES Act, may have a little more time to do it. Recent IRS guidance includes an extension until July 15, 2020, to complete time-sensitive actions, such as indirect rollovers of retirement account distributions. But the extension only benefits a select group — those who took a distribution in 2020 between February 1 and May 15 and haven't rolled over any other distribution in the past year.

With stocks down around 17% since Feb. 20, older Americans stand to benefit from Congress’s stimulus-bill move to suspend required minimum distributions from retirement accounts this year.

The one-year hiatus gives those who can afford to leave their nest eggs alone a better chance of recovering losses. The reason: They’ll have more shares in their accounts in the event of a stock-market rebound.

The Internal Revenue Service has been scrambling to make things easier for taxpayers in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and now it’s issued yet another notice related to this tax season that moves deadlines later. It’s welcome relief for seniors and gig workers and many more. For CPAs trying to meet April 15 tax deadlines and to explain why second quarter estimated tax payments were due before first quarter payments, they can sigh in relief.

The new coronavirus outbreak and economic measures to contain it could have a significantly negative impact on retirement preparations for millions of Americans.

Account balances have been depleted by the stock market collapse. Many people now need to tap into their accounts to make ends meet. Others, facing layoffs or reduced hours, won't have the income to make investment contributions.

NEW YORK, April 1, 2020 -- The 2020 edition of Ed Slott's Retirement Decisions Guide,a book by Ed Slott, CPA, America's IRA Expert, founder of Ed Slott and Company, LLC and creator of irahelp.com, has been revised to incorporate information about the new retirement tax laws implemented following the passage

The ink is barely dry on the new coronavirus relief bill, yet tax mavericks are hatching strategies around the retirement savings provisions.

Last Friday, President Donald Trump signed the $2 trillion package into law. The measure contained several provisions aimed at loosening rules governing retirement accounts.

The coronavirus has disrupted life throughout America, but various common-sense tips can help keep your finances under control. 

Fortunately, most of the following checklist items are reasonably easy to implement, without requiring much heavy lifting. Many are actions you should have been taking anyway, but now they're more urgent.