On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed the bill popularly referred to as the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” (the “Act”) into law.  The Act contains significant changes to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code that are effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017. In this article, we provide a summary of the changes to Section 162(m) and suggest planning considerations for publicly held corporations.

Summary of Changes to Section 162(m)

Among other changes to Section 162(m), the Act eliminated the performance-based compensation exception to the $1 million deduction limitation under Section 162(m).  The Act amended the scope of the covered employees, corporations, and compensation for purposes of the $1 million limitation on the deduction for compensation paid to certain employees under Section 162(m). The changes to Section 162(m) include the following:

• Eliminating the performance-based compensation and commission exceptions from compensation subject
  

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

Securities and executive benefits attorneys and public companies that maintain equity incentive plans should be aware of a new theory of recovery under the “short-swing profit rule.” Plaintiffs’ attorneys have recently asserted a new form of claim alleging liability under the short-swing profit rule when shares are withheld to satisfy applicable taxes upon the vesting of awards.

Overview of the Short-Swing Profit Rule

The short-swing profit rule generally provides for strict liability of Section 16 insiders (i.e. an executive officer, director or 10% or more shareholder) if they engage in purchases and sales, or sales and purchases, of issuer equity securities within a six-month period that are not exempt under Section 16. Pursuant to Section 16 of the Exchange Act, a suit to recover short-swing profits may be instituted by the issuer or a shareholder in the name and on behalf of the issuer if the issuer fails or

On January 20, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order entitled “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review” (the “Freeze Memo“).  The Freeze Memo was anticipated, and mirrors similar memos issued by Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush during their first few days in office.  In light of the Freeze Memo, we have reviewed some of our recent posts discussing new regulations to determine the extent to which the Freeze Memo might affect such regulations.

The Regulatory Freeze

The two-page Freeze Memo requires that:

Last month, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) published updates to its proxy voting guidelines effective for meetings on or after February 1, 2017.  Key compensation-related changes include the following:

Non-Employee Director Compensation Programs

In the case of management proposals seeking shareholder ratification of non-employee director compensation, ISS will review such proposals on a case-by-case basis utilizing the following factors:

• Amount of director compensation relative to similar companies
• Existence of problematic pay practices relating to director compensation
• Director stock ownership guidelines and holding requirements
• Vesting schedules for equity awards
• Mix of cash and equity-based compensation
• Meaningful limits on director compensation
• Availability of retirement benefits or perquisites
• Quality of director compensation disclosure

To the extent the equity plan under which non-employee director grants are awarded is on the ballot, ISS will consider whether it warrants

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 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 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 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

Last week the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a new Rule 10D-1 that would direct national securities exchanges and associations to establish listing standards requiring companies to adopt, enforce and disclose policies to clawback excess incentive-based compensation from executive officers.

• Covered Securities Issuers. With limited exceptions for issuers of certain securities and unit investment trusts (UITs), the Proposed Rule 10D-1 would apply to all listed companies, including emerging growth companies, smaller reporting companies, foreign private issuers and controlled companies. Registered management investment companies would be subject to the requirements of the Proposed Rule only to the extent they had awarded incentive-based compensation to executive officers in any of the last three fiscal years.

• Covered Officers.   The Proposed Rule would apply to current and former Section 16 officers, which