IRS relaxes rules for Sandy victims

The year 2012 will be remembered for many things, chief among them Hurricane Sandy and the damage it inflicted on our area. Many of our members are still striving to put their lives back together, and it will take some time.

The UFT, the AFT and our allies were successful in lobbying the Internal Revenue Service to relax its rules and allow members who were hard hit by the storm to take loans and hardship withdrawals from their Tax-Deferred Annuity, their 401(k) and other tax-sheltered retirement savings accounts.

As a result, eligible plan participants were able to access their money more quickly and with less red tape.

The deadline for those affected by Hurricane Sandy to take advantage of the relaxed IRS rules on loans and hardship withdrawals is Feb. 1.