Welcome to the Stay Walthy Podcast. I'm your host Taylor Schulte, and today I've got some

fun news to share with you, but first, I've got a couple of quick tax tips for everyone that just

wrapped up their 2020 tax return. As you might remember, part of the CARES Act that rolled out

last year included coronavirus relief on qualified retirement distributions.

In short, distributions from a traditional 401k or IRA up to $100,000 in 2020 might qualify

for what's called a qualified disaster retirement plan distribution. If you're under age 59 and a half and qualified for a disaster retirement plan distribution, the 10% early withdrawal penalty is waived. In addition, anyone who took an eligible withdrawal can spread the tax liability out over three years. So if your withdrawal triggered, let's say a $9,000 tax bill in 2020,

you can pay $3,000 for the next three years, 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Or you can opt to pay the entire $9,000 tax bill with your 2020 tax return. You can also choose to pay,

repay the withdrawal within three years of taking it by making one or more contributions

back to your retirement account. Now, to qualify, you, your spouse, or a dependent had to have

either been diagnosed with coronavirus by a CDC-approved

test or have experienced coronavirus-related adverse financial conditions as a result of one of

these four things. One, being quarantined, furloughed, laid off, or having work hours reduced.

Two, being unable to work due to lack of child care, three,

having to close or reduce hours of a business owned or operated by the affected individual,

or four, having a reduction in pay or self-employment income or having a job offer rescinded

or delayed. In other words, just about everyone could

theoretically check one of those boxes. And that's exactly what's happening. We're discovering

that accountants and CPAs are checking the box on behalf of their clients in an effort to

reduce the current year tax bill. And this is one of my issues with CPAs that don't

practice long-term tax planning. They're looking at each year in a vacuum. They're looking at

2020 and they're trying to figure out how can I save my client's money this year without considering

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