Can I claim the CARES Act exemption for a 401k withdrawal in 2021 if it wasn’t my fault that my financial services company didn’t process it in 2020?

I filed the paperwork for the withdrawal in November 2020 but it wasn’t processed until January, and I received a 1099-R this year for the whole amount.

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The CARES Act exemption only applied to COVID-19 related withdrawals that occurred before December 30, 2020.

If your plan administrator issued it with the wrong year, you would need to contact them to issue a corrected form and then amend your 2020 tax return.