Under the 65-day rule, a trustee can make distributions to trust beneficiaries within 65 days after year-end and treat those distributions as if they were made in the previous tax year. The deadline for the distribution is March 6 (March 5 in a leap year). An irrevocable election must be made on the trust’s income tax return to treat the distributions made within the 65-day window as made in the prior tax year. For tax year 2020, if trustees make distributions to trust beneficiaries before March 6, 2021, they can elect to treat those distributions as 2020 tax year distributions. The trustee would claim an income distribution deduction for these “65-day rule” distributions on the trust’s 2020 tax return and shift some of the trust’s 2020 income tax burden to the trust beneficiaries, who would be taxed at lower rates than the trust.