Last week the House unveiled its tax overhaul plan, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Act”).  The Act’s proposals related to employee benefits and compensation are as follows:

Nonqualified Deferred Compensation

Perhaps one of the most talked about aspects of the Act (at least among benefits practitioners) is the demise of Code section 409A and the creation of its replacement, Code section 409B.

Under the proposed Code section 409B regime, nonqualified deferred compensation would be defined broadly to include any compensation that could be paid later than the March 15 following the taxable year in which the compensation is no longer subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture, but with specific carve-outs for qualified retirement plans and bona fide vacation, leave, disability, or death benefit plans.  Stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock units, and other phantom equity are included expressly in the definition of nonqualified deferred compensation.

All nonqualified deferred compensation earned for services performed after 2017 would become taxable once the substantial risk of forfeiture no longer exists, even if payment of the compensation occurs in a later tax year.  As a result:

• Stock options and stock appreciation rights would become includible in income in the year in which the award vests, without regard to whether they have been exercised.
• An employee’s deferral of any salary under a nonqualified deferred compensation arrangement until separation from service or otherwise would result in the inclusion of such amount in the employee’s income in the year earned.
• All salary
  

On the TV show Futurama, the aged proprietor of the delivery company Planet Express, Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, had a habit of entering a room where the other characters were gathered and sharing his trademark line, “Good news, everyone!”  Of course, his news was rarely good.  More often, it was the beginning of some misadventure through which the other characters would inevitably suffer, often to great comedic effect.  So we can forgive you for thinking that we may be standing in his shoes when we tell you that new 409A regulations are good news, but really, hear us (read us?) out.

The IRS released proposed changes to both the existing final regulations and the proposed income inclusion regulations.  And the news is mostly good.  Additionally, taxpayers can rely on the proposed regulations.

The changes are legion, so we are breaking up our coverage into a series of blog posts. This last in our series is about the changes to the proposed income inclusion regulations and the other minor changes and clarifications made by the regulations.  See our prior posts, “Firing Squad,” “Taking (and Giving) Stock,” “Don’t Fear the (409A) Reaper,” and “Getting Paid.”

Preventing Waste, Fraud, and Abuse (Okay, well, mostly just abuse). The only change to the proposed income inclusion regulations was to “fix” the anti-abuse rule that applied

On the TV show Futurama, the aged proprietor of the delivery company Planet Express, Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, had a habit of entering a room where the other characters were gathered and sharing his trademark line, “Good news, everyone!”  Of course, his news was rarely good.  More often, it was the beginning of some misadventure through which the other characters would inevitably suffer, often to great comedic effect.  So we can forgive you for thinking that we may be standing in his shoes when we tell you that new 409A regulations are good news, but really, hear us (read us?) out.

The IRS released proposed changes to both the existing final regulations and the proposed income inclusion regulations.  And the news is mostly good.  Additionally, taxpayers can rely on the proposed regulations.

The changes are legion, so we are breaking up our coverage into a series of blog posts. This fourth in our series is about payment-related changes.  See our first three posts, “Firing Squad,” “Taking (and Giving) Stock,” and “Don’t Fear the (409A) Reaper.” Check back for one more post on these regulations.

What’s a Payment?  That’s not merely a philosophical question.  The current regulations use “payment” a great many times, but without definition.  The proposed regulations state that a payment, for 409A purposes, is generally made when a taxable benefit

On the TV show Futurama, the aged proprietor of the delivery company Planet Express, Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, had a habit of entering a room where the other characters were gathered and sharing his trademark line, “Good news, everyone!”  Of course, his news was rarely good.  More often, it was the beginning of some misadventure through which the other characters would inevitably suffer, often to great comedic effect.  So we can forgive you for thinking that we may be standing in his shoes when we tell you that new 409A regulations are good news, but really, hear us (read us?) out.

The IRS released proposed changes to both the existing final regulations and the proposed income inclusion regulations.  And the news is mostly good.  Additionally, taxpayers can rely on the proposed regulations.

The changes are legion, so we are breaking up our coverage into a series of blog posts. This third post is about the death benefit changes.  See our first two posts, “Firing Squad” and “Taking (and Giving) Stock.” Check back for future posts on these regulations.

Accelerated Payments for Beneficiaries. 409A generally allows plans to add death, disability, or unforeseeable emergency as potentially earlier alternative payment dates.  However, this special rule only applied to the service provider.  If the service provider dies, then the payment schedule applicable on the service provider’s death

On the TV show Futurama, the aged proprietor of the delivery company Planet Express, Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, had a habit of entering a room where the other characters were gathered and sharing his trademark line, “Good news, everyone!”  Of course, his news was rarely good.  More often, it was the beginning of some misadventure through which the other characters would inevitably suffer, often to great comedic effect.  So we can forgive you for thinking that we may be standing in his shoes when we tell you that new 409A regulations are good news, but really, hear us (read us?) out.

The IRS released proposed changes to both the existing final regulations and the proposed income inclusion regulations.  And the news is mostly good.  Additionally, taxpayers can rely on the proposed regulations.

The changes are legion, so we are breaking up our coverage into a series of blog posts. This second post relates to changes in stock awards and stock sales.  See our first post, “Firing Squad.”  Check back for future posts on these regulations.

Discounted Stock Buybacks Are Now Okay, Sort of. The existing regulations had a trap for the unwary.  If the stock subject to an option or stock appreciation right (SAR) was subject to a buyback at other than fair market value, then the option or SAR may not be exempt from 409A. 

On the TV show Futurama, the aged proprietor of the delivery company Planet Express, Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, had a habit of entering a room where the other characters were gathered and sharing his trademark line, “Good news, everyone!”  Of course, his news was rarely good.  More often, it was the beginning of some misadventure through which the other characters would inevitably suffer, often to great comedic effect.  So we can forgive you for thinking that we may be standing in his shoes when we tell you that new 409A regulations are good news, but really, hear us (read us?) out.

The IRS released proposed changes to both the existing final regulations and the proposed income inclusion regulations.  And the news is mostly good.

The changes are legion, so we are breaking up our coverage into a series of blog posts. This first post is all about the changes related to the end of the service relationship.  Check back for future posts discussing other aspects of these proposed regulations.

Severance Safe Harbor Available for Bad Hires. Severance is, surprisingly to some, generally considered deferred compensation subject to 409A.  However, severance can be exempt from 409A if the severance is due to a truly involuntary separation under 409A and does not exceed two times the lesser of (1) the employee’s prior annual compensation or (2) the limit on compensation

Separation agreements almost always contain release provisions whereby one or both parties agree to waive claims that they may have against the other party; when the employee releases claims, he or she typically gains compensation or a benefit that he or she is not already entitled to receive.  In a world in which every terminated employee is a potential plaintiff, employers should have a good grasp on how to draft a valid and enforceable release in a separation agreement.  Here are five tips every employer should consider when drafting this type of a release.

Tip No. 1:  Offer Valid Consideration

In order to have a valid and enforceable release agreement, the employer must provide the employee with payments or benefits the employee is otherwise not entitled to receive.  Therefore, payments or benefits the terminated employee is otherwise entitled to receive either by law or pursuant to an employment agreement generally do not satisfy the consideration requirement.  For example, conditioning the employee’s release on the receipt of his final paycheck, earned commissions or vacation pay specified by an employee handbook or other policy will not constitute valid consideration.  While severance pay is the most common type of consideration, it is not the employer’s only option.  Valid consideration can also include notice pay (i.e., pay in lieu of notice), continuation of health benefits at the employer’s expense (note, there are tax

As we have noted previously, March 15 is tax “Code Section 409A Day.”  For employers with calendar fiscal years, that is generally the last day an amount can be paid and still qualify as a short-term deferral that is exempt from 409A’s stringent timing and form of payment requirements.  But what does one do when March 15 falls on a weekend, as it does this year?  You likely aren’t cutting payroll checks on a Saturday.  Can you wait until Monday to pay?

The answer is no.  The rules are clear that the payment generally has to be made by the 15th day of the 3rd month (hence, March 15) of the year following the year in which either the right to the compensation arises or the compensation is no longer subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture (and note that for this purpose, the 409A definition is different than the Section 83 definition).  (The deadline can be different if an employer has a non-calendar year fiscal year, but the concept is essentially the same.)

There are a few exceptions.  First, if making the payment by the deadline is administratively impracticable and such impracticability was not reasonably foreseeable when the right to the compensation arose, then payment can be made after the deadline, as long as payment is made as soon as practicable.  Of course, for 2014 it is difficult to argue that the impracticability wasn’t foreseeable simply because you didn’t happen to look into next March

Qualified Plans

• If your plans are filed in “Cycle C” for determinations letters (i.e., plan sponsor’s EIN ends in 3 or 8), address items needed for the IRS filing before the end of the year. The filing deadline is January 31, 2014, but notices to “interested parties” must be distributed no later than 10 days before the filing. Set that filing date and prepare the plan restatement before the ball drops.
• If your company did not timely adopt a written 403(b) plan document, you may qualify for a reduced compliance fee under the IRS’ correction program, but only if the filing is made before the ball drops.
• Most defined benefit plans have been amended to incorporate the benefit accrual and distribution restrictions that apply if the plan’s funding drops below certain thresholds. These Code Section 436 rules must be added to your defined benefit plan by written amendment before the ball drops if you sponsor a calendar year plan.
• More detailed information on the above items can be found here.
• Have your payroll and benefit administration systems been updated to reflect the new qualified plan limits for 2014? The elective deferral pre-tax/Roth limit remains unchanged at $17,500. The limit on compensation taken into account for purposes of calculating maximum contributions and benefits will go from $255,000 to $260,000. The Social Security taxable wage base will go from $113,700 to $117,000.

The Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”) – Repeal of Section 3

• Qualified retirement plans, 403(b) plans
  

The 409A rules do not provide a clear roadmap to determine what compensation arrangements are subject to their regime of requirements and restrictions.  In this brief video, Brian Berglund provides a description of the approach you should take to evaluate whether your compensation arrangement should be structured to comply with the 409A rules regarding deferral elections, timing of payments and other requirements.

(You can also view the video by going here.)