On December 23, 2008, President Bush signed into law the Worker, Retiree and Employer Recovery Act of 2008. This legislation affects individuals who are taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) and beneficiaries of deceased IRA holders. Under this law, if you are an IRA holder who will be age 70½ or older in 2009 or are a beneficiary of a deceased IRA holder’s account, you are not required to take an RMD for the 2009 tax year. If, however, you are an IRA holder who was age 70½ in 2008 and chose to delay your first RMD payment, you still must take your 2008 RMD by April 1, 2009. If you are receiving automatic distributions from your IRA and would like to discontinue these payments, please contact us at your earliest convenience.