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The coronavirus stimulus package, known as the CARES Act, working its way through Congress is expected to waive required minimum distributions (RMDs) from retirement savings accounts for 2020, granting a reprieve for retirees age 70½ and older who might otherwise be required to sell low and take distributions just when the stock market has nosedived in recent weeks.

The bipartisan COVID-19 stimulus bill just signed by President Trump includes welcome tax relief for retirees: The required minimum distribution rules for Individual Retirement Accounts and 401(k)s are waived for 2020.

In addition to the catastrophic health situation caused by coronavirus, many of your clients are also getting hurt financially, especially in their retirement accounts. You may be able to help them take advantage of several new relief provisions that most of your clients can benefit from immediately.

Every month, IRA expert Ed Slott is taking your questions about Individual Retirement Accounts. One is about a potential tax benefit for some retirees included in the "Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act,” or CARES Act.

The market’s recent plunge has been brutal.

But for people with traditional individual retirement accounts, the silver lining is that today’s lower account balances can be used to reduce income-tax bills in retirement.

The key is a strategy known as the Roth conversion. This allows account owners to transfer some or all of the money in a tax-deferred IRA to a Roth IRA, a retirement account into which you contribute after-tax dollars and get tax-free withdrawals.

The Senate’s $2 trillion coronavirus-relief bill that passed Wednesday night includes breaks for Americans whose retirement accounts have been battered by the stock-market meltdown.

The House of Representatives is expected to pass the package on Friday. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said President Trump would sign the package as it was written Wednesday.

This measure "will help lots of people avoid a tax bill on IRA value that has vanished," IRA expert Ed Slott tells ThinkAdvisor.

People with retirement accounts have seen losses through no fault of their own and they need a helping hand

Financial Professionals Can Access Training from Home to Learn Critical Updates Under the SECURE Act

What the new rules say about paying taxes on inherited funds

Starting this month, IRA expert Ed Slott is taking your questions about Individual Retirement Accounts. He starts by addressing what to do about new rules in the 2020 SECURE Act that  affect most beneficiaries who inherit tax-deferred funds starting this year.