Believe it or not, the IRS isn’t always bad. Yes, they are that annoying federal agency that takes your hard-earned money when it comes to taxes, but they also have some flexibility when it comes to collecting taxes and have been known to occasionally be sympathetic to the plight of Americans. A good example of this is when natural disasters strike. In such scenarios, the IRS has the ability to postpone certain tax deadlines for those affected by federally-declared natural disasters. This can include taxes and deadlines that apply to retirement accounts. The extensions of deadlines may allow more time to complete certain transactions, such as rollovers or making IRA contributions. It should be noted, however, that the ability of the IRS to help those affected by natural disasters is very limited. It cannot change any deadlines or transactions set forth in laws or legislation–such as delaying something like the 10% penalty for early distributions. Making changes to transactions or deadlines set forth in laws requires another law or legislation. Currently, the IRS has postponed certain deadlines for those affected by Hurricane Ida, the flooding in Tennessee, and the wildfires in California until January 3, 2022. For a list of the deadlines impacted and those areas impacted, you will need to visit the IRS website.