Under the hardship regulation 1.401(k)-1(d)(2)(iv) for deemed hardship distributions, it states four primary reasons a participant could take a distribution from the plan. The 5th item under the deemed regulations says, "The Commissioner may expand standards. The Commissioner may expand the list of deemed immediate and heavy financial needs and may prescribe additional methods for distributions to be deemed necessary to satisfy an immediate and heavy financial need only in revenue rulings, notices, and other documents of general applicability, and not on an individual basis."

We have been receiving many questions from individuals about taking a hardship distribution because of the hurricane disasters in Florida. Would the President's declaration of an area as a major disater area constitute a "deemed" reason to issue a harship distribution? Could the declaration by the President be the "other document" or would the declaration actually have to be from the commissioner?

I don't know but I sure am surprised that after 9/11 they didn't add "directly affected by a disaster area" to the list of deemed hardships, or something like it.

Maybe they will soon...

No, neither the President nor the secretary of treasury has declared that suffering property damage due to hurricanes is a deemed hardship event.

Obviously you could modify the plan to include the general hardship language or to add your own custom event but if you are only using the deemed hardship events then your participants are shucks out of luck.