"One option is to deny a hardship request for repair to a primary residence if the loss occurs on or after January 1, 2018 and is outside of a federally declared disaster area. To account for this change, a plan may need to modify the instructions provided as part of hardship request materials as well as the guidelines used for reviewing and approving hardship requests. Alternatively, a plan could opt to ignore the section 165 amendment -- and maintain the status quo -- when determining hardship eligibility, unless and until the IRS issues guidance to the contrary."  MORE >>