Under the CARES Act, taxpayers who do not itemize their deductions will be able to claim a charitable deduction of up to $300 for cash donations made in 2020. This means that you could add an additional $300 to your charity budget this year, recover a portion of it in tax savings, and help charities address extraordinary current needs.

Example: Suppose that you are over the age of 65 and your itemized deductions would total $12,000. You would claim the standard deduction of $13,700 rather than itemizing. If you give at least $300 in cash to qualifying charities this year, you can elect the standard deduction of $13,700 and also deduct $300 – for total deductions of $14,000.

If you are under the age of 59½ and withdraw money from your retirement plan to cover expenses incurred by you or a family member related to treatment of the coronavirus, the 10% tax penalty will not apply, taxation of the distribution can be spread over three years, and you can add the amount you withdraw to the fund later without regard to contribution limits.

This does not affect charities in the near term, but it does allow retirement funds to be used for an immediate need while enabling retirement accounts to recover and be used in the future for family security or charitable purposes.

If you made a large cash gift in 2019, you could deduct it only to the extent of 60% of your adjusted gross income. This year, the CARES Act allows you to deduct it to the extent of your entire adjusted gross income.

Example: Suppose you had income of $300,000 in 2019, but from cash investments you made a cash gift of $500,000. Your previous deduction limit would have been $180,000 (60% of $300,000). In 2020, you can deduct $300,000. In both cases, the unused amount of the deduction could be carried forward and used to the extent of the limitation applicable to the carryover year.

Planning Pointer 1: Like the $300 deduction for non-itemizers, the modification of the contribution limit does not apply in the case of gifts for donor-advised funds and supporting organizations. The gifts in most cases must be to public charities like ours.

Planning Pointer 2: In the event you have made a multi-year pledge to a charity, you might want to accelerate payment of the pledge balance in 2020 if you can afford to do so. The charity would have the use of the money sooner – and you could use the deduction more quickly.

The contribution limit for corporations has been 10% of taxable income. For 2020, that limit has been raised to 25% for cash contributions. The purpose is to enable companies that are doing well in this economy to give more to their communities.

The Act also increases from 15% to 25% the percentage of taxable income certain corporations claim when they contribute food inventory for the needy. This may help replenish depleted food inventories at food banks.

Under the SECURE Act that was enacted this past December, IRA owners and certain participants in qualified retirement plans are required to take distributions beginning at the age of 72. The mandatory beginning age had been 70½. Under the CARES Act, for the year 2020 there will be no mandatory distributions – no matter the age of the account owner.

Many people have seen a precipitous drop in the balances of their retirement funds, and this provision allows those accounts to recover before forcing the liquidation of possibly depressed securities they may hold in order to make required distributions.

The minimum age for making a tax-free transfer from an IRA to a charity remains at 70½, and the annual limit for such transfers remains at $100,000. However, because of the modification of deduction limits in 2020, one could exceed this limit.

Example: A donor over the age of 59½ with a large IRA balance not needed for living expenses wants to give more of that IRA now but do so without paying taxes. In 2020, the donor withdraws $500,000 from the IRA and then contributes it to charity. This adds $500,000 to adjusted gross income, but the donor can deduct the entire $500,000 since charitable gifts in 2020 are deductible to the full extent of adjusted gross income. The deduction offsets the taxable income, which is the equivalent of a tax-free charitable rollover.

Your situation might be quite different. Maybe you want to make a gift from your IRA in the future but not now because it has lost quite a bit of its value. Thus you elect to make no withdrawals this year, let the account recover, and either next year or in the year you attain the age of 72 make charitable transfers to count towards your mandatory distribution requirements.

The SECURE Act, enacted in December 2019, provides greater access to tax-advantaged retirement plans and helps prevent people from outliving their assets. Here are three provisions of the Act that have implications for charitable planning.

1. The Act raised the age at which a person must start taking distributions from a retirement plan from 70½ to 72. Investing retirement funds for a longer time results in larger accumulations. The minimum age for making a qualified charitable distribution from your IRA remains at 70½. The gift will not be included in taxable income and still counts towards your required minimum distribution. The age for the required minimum distribution to begin was raised to 72 for persons who had not reached the age of 70½ by 2019. While you could let your IRA grow until the age of 72 before making IRA gifts, you can start now – especially since you will not be taxed on the transfers.

Note: The CARES Act, which was enacted after the SECURE Act, waives the required minimum distribution for the year 2020. Beginning in 2021, the distribution rules will be as described above. Even though you are not required to take a minimum distribution in 2020, you may still do a tax-free transfer from an IRA to charity if you are over the age of 70½.

2. The Act will allow contributions to your regular IRA after the age of 70½. This allows people who are still working to accumulate more for retirement. Your future potential for both family and charitable gifts would be enhanced. Contributions to your IRA after the age of 70½ affect the amount of the required minimum distribution offset by your gift.

3. The Act requires that retirement funds given to non-spousal beneficiaries be fully distributed within ten years. With certain exceptions, the “stretch IRA” is no longer possible for beneficiaries who are not spouses. If you are looking for a way to provide life payments to a loved one, you can make a charitable remainder trust the beneficiary of the retirement funds and then name your loved one as trust beneficiary to receive payments for life.