Required minimum distributions for IRA owners, plan participants and beneficiaries are waived for 2009.  While this might have been a little more helpful in 2008 with the large decline in balances this does add some flexibility in 2009.

Increased flexibility for investing in 529 plans.  Under the existing rules for 529 plans, account owners can only make investment selection adjustments once per year (or when there is a change in beneficiaries). Under the new relief just released from the IRS for 2009, 529 plan account owners will now be eligible to make changes twice.

This actually became effective in 2006, but has been recently clarified.  According to IRS Notice 2008-30, a non-spouse beneficiary of a qualified retirement plan can “convert” that inherited plan to an inherited Roth IRA, provided the inherited qualified retirement plan permits transfers to inherited IRAs and provided that the non-spouse beneficiary meets the modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) and filing status eligibility requirements (e.g., $100K).