It’s December, and if you haven’t yet made your charitable contributions this year, now is the time, especially since 2020 contributions are subject to new, more favorable tax treatment.

According to the IRS, just about every taxpayer (close to nine in 10) does not itemize deductions -- they take the standard deduction instead. If that describes you, did you know that this year you can get a tax deduction for a charitable contribution, something that normally calls for a Schedule A?

A special provision of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, enacted last spring, enables taxpayers to get a deduction even if they don’t itemize.

Specifically, in 2020 you can make a cash donation of up to $300 and deduct that amount on your 2020 tax return when you file your return in 2021.

“Under this new change, individual taxpayers can claim an ‘above-the-line’ deduction of up to $300 for cash donations made to charity during 2020,” according to the IRS. “This means the deduction lowers both adjusted gross income and taxable income -- translating into tax savings for those making donations to qualifying tax-exempt organizations.” You can find more information about the $300 deduction at tinyurl.com/y4zvpj5z.

As Edward T. Killen, the acting commissioner of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities division of the IRS, pointed out in the IRS executive column “A Closer Look”: “This could help taxpayers when they file their taxes in 2021 -- and help many organizations across the country as they try to help people coping with the coronavirus. Many charities are struggling this year, and donations for many are down.”

What’s a “cash” donation? A check, credit card or debit card payment to the charity. What is not cash? Things like securities, household items or other property.

What is considered a qualified charity? Check IRS Publication 526, “Charitable Contributions,” at tinyurl.com/y6bhnuna. You also can use the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search (TEOS) tool at tinyurl.com/y84b96ja. Scroll down the page until you find the blue “button.”

In “A Closer Look,” Killen encouraged taxpayers to use the TEOS tool, saying: “All too often, we see fly-by-night organizations pop up trying to take advantage of natural disasters and people’s good will in the name of charity, when in reality they don’t have tax-exempt status. This can damage the reputation of noble charitable organizations and undermine confidence in charitable giving at the very time where generosity and help are most needed.”

What if you do plan to itemize? In 2020, again thanks to the CARES Act, you can deduct qualified charitable cash contributions on Schedule A as an itemized deduction up to 100 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI). Normally, the deduction is limited to a percentage (usually 60 percent) of the taxpayer’s AGI. If you are planning on using Schedule A, be sure to talk with your accountant first.

Finally, don’t forget qualified charitable distributions (QCDs), which I discussed in October. If you are 70 1/2 years old or older, you can withdraw up to $100,000 from your IRA (individual retirement account) to go to charity. Unlike IRA required minimum distributions (RMDs), which are suspended for 2020, QCDs are nontaxable IRA withdrawals. If you would like a copy of the October QCD column, please email me at readers@juliejason.com.

Julie Jason, JD, LLM, a personal money manager (Jackson, Grant Investment Advisers Inc. of Stamford, Connecticut) and award-winning author, welcomes your questions/comments (readers@juliejason.com). Please visit www.juliejason.com.

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When it comes to bills, do you prefer getting a printed statement in the mail over an electronic statement online? In a Consumer Action survey of a few years ago (tinyurl.com/yxq69wc3), 78% of those surveyed who received paper bills by mail said they actually reviewed their statements; only 43% of those who received online statements reviewed theirs.

What about brokerage statements? Do you get your brokerage statement in the mail or electronically?

One advantage of receiving your monthly brokerage statement electronically is the immediacy of information. It does take some time for a mailed statement to arrive.

Electronic delivery is less costly to the financial firm. Some financial firms encourage electronic delivery by charging for paper statements.

No matter how your statements arrive, they should be read regularly and diligently.

An Investor Alert issued by regulators (“It Pays to Pay Attention to Your Brokerage Account Statements”) advises: “You should make it a habit to review online or paper account statements and trade confirmations on a regular basis. You should review your statement as soon as you receive it.” The alert (tinyurl.com/y48jnvhz) was issued jointly by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA).

You’ll want to confirm that the statement “correctly reflects your investment decisions and any actions you made or authorized during the time the statement covers.”

Specifically, look for:

1) Cash balance changes such as “An unforeseen increase in the amount of cash in your account, which might have resulted from a data entry error by the brokerage firm, but could also indicate that someone sold securities without your consent; or an unexpected decrease in the amount of cash in your account, which could indicate an unauthorized purchase, transfer or withdrawal.”

2) Missing securities (securities that you owned and did not sell).

3) Trades that look unfamiliar (did you authorize the trade?).

4) New fees (or higher fees that you did not expect).

If there is an issue and you don’t speak up, the firm may presume that all is in order. As the alert states, “The broker-dealer, registered investment adviser firm, a regulator or organization such as SIPC may presume that you authorized the trading or other activity in the account.”

That’s the most compelling reason to do a review -- to catch problems as early as possible and to report them to the investment professional and the brokerage firm for resolution.

After you report the issue, the firm should address it and resolve it to your satisfaction. But what if the firm is unresponsive, or disengages by telling you that everything is fine without satisfying you? Those are red flags, says the alert.

Others are: offering, but not accomplishing, a correction; different people at the firm offering different resolutions to the single issue; and attempts by the broker “to settle with you directly or ‘off the books’ without involving the branch manager or the brokerage firm -- by writing you a check, depositing money or securities into your account or providing other compensation,” to quote the alert.

If you run into a red flag situation, contact the branch manager of the brokerage firm in writing with specifics. That will give the firm a chance to address the issue, and give you, the firm’s customer, a chance to create a record, just in case you need help getting an appropriate resolution.

Julie Jason, JD, LLM, a personal money manager (Jackson, Grant Investment Advisers Inc. of Stamford, Connecticut) and award-winning author, welcomes your questions/comments (readers@juliejason.com). Please visit www.juliejason.com.

DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

If you are participating in a retirement plan at work, are you changing your activity because of the pandemic? Most participants are not, even though the COVID-19 market was a roller coaster between Feb. 19 and March 23. One-day declines and advances in the S&P 500 index made it to the top 25 list of biggest up and down days since the Great Depression.

Nonetheless, only 2.2% of retirement plan participants (401(k)s and other defined contribution plans) stopped contributing to their plans in the first three quarters of 2020, according to the Investment Company Institute (ICI), a major trade association that represents the regulated investment fund industry. That compares with 5% during the first three quarters of 2009, just before the end of the financial crisis market that started in October 2007 and ended in March 2009.

“Americans overwhelmingly continued saving for retirement through defined contribution (DC) plans during the first three quarters of 2020, undeterred by the economic downturn brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to ICI.

This conclusion is based on ICI’s “Defined Contribution Plan Participants’ Activities, First Three Quarters of 2020” study released Nov 19. The study involved tracking record-keeper data for more than 30 million retirement plan participants (401(k) and DC plans).

What’s important about the data is that it shows participants are not reacting to the tremendously volatile time between Feb. 19 and March 23, the one-month period that created the shortest bear market measured by S&P Capital IQ. The S&P 500 index started this short period at 3,386 (Feb. 19) and ended on March 23 at 2,237, with a loss of 33.9%.

Since 1929, the average bear declined about 38%, lasted 489 calendar days and took 42 months to break even. If you start the count in 1946, the average bear declined about 33%, lasted 389 calendar days and took 24 months to recover. The COVID-19 bear lasted 33 calendar days, declined about 34% and took only five months to recover. But, what a ride we experienced during that time: a decline of 12% on 3/16/2020; a decline of 9.5% on 3/12/2020; and a 7.6% decline on 3/09/2020, landing these three in the worst 25 list of daily declines since the late 1920s, according to Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA, an independent investment research firm. Two up days made the top 25 list of biggest daily advances: 3/13/2020 (+9.3%) and 3/24/2020 (+9.4%).

For context, 401(k) participants represent a huge demographic -- we’re talking about millions (58 million) of active 401(k) participants and millions more former employees and retirees, according to ICI. And, importantly, they are thinking ahead. As they should.

“The data again show the long-term mindset of retirement savers,” said Sarah Holden, ICI senior director of retirement and investor research. “Even in a year of unprecedented economic volatility and increased financial hardship, savers clearly view their DC account as a special pot of money earmarked for retirement, which is only tapped as a last resort. Retirement savers consistently demonstrate that they are in it for the long haul and tend to stay the course.”

Music to my ears: As a proponent of financial literacy education, that’s very good news to me.

ICI has been tracking DC plan participant activity through record-keeper surveys since 2008. This update provides results from ICI’s survey of a cross section of record-keeping firms representing a broad range of DC plans. Visit ICI’s 401(k) Resource Center (ici.org/401k) for more information, and you can read the ICI research report at tinyurl.com/yyocu579.

Julie Jason, JD, LLM, a personal money manager (Jackson, Grant Investment Advisers Inc. of Stamford, Connecticut) and award-winning author, welcomes your questions/comments (readers@juliejason.com). Please visit www.juliejason.com.

DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION