 TITLE: Do Retirement Accounts Affect Your Taxes? CONTENT: Pandemic Relief and Taxes\n-------------------------\nThe federal CARES Act signed into law in March 2020 delivers some pandemic-related tax benefits for retirement savers.\nFor example, anyone 59½ or younger can withdraw up to $100,000 from an eligible retirement plan in 2020 without paying the usual 10% tax penalty. In addition, someone can spread out the federal tax due on that withdrawal over a three-year period.\nAlso, people harmed by the pandemic were able to borrow as much as $100,000 from a 401(k) or IRA from March 27 through December 31, 2020, without facing a tax penalty.\nFor those already in retirement, the CARES Act enabled older Americans to skip annual \"required minimum distributions\" from retirement accounts in 2020. If someone wound up taking a required distribution in 2020 before the pandemic struck, they could put back some or all of the money by August 31, 2020. On federal returns for the 2020 tax year, pre-pandemic distributions taken in 2020 must be reflected as tax-free rollovers. END