An ongoing dispute about a Department of Labor advisory opinion published last September raises a basic but unanswered question under the ERISA: What...
Non-governmental employers that sponsor Section 457(b) deferred compensation plans should be mindful that December 31, 2025, is the deadline for plan...
Many 401(k) plan sponsors are currently discussing implementation of the new Roth catch-up contribution rules, which were published on September 16,...
Employers and their compensation advisors often assume that an arrangement to pay employees in the future for work done over time will be subject to...
When the IRS published proposed regulations harmonizing key provisions of Code Sections 409A and 457(f) in 2016, executive compensation lawyers and...
This post examines excess deferrals under non-governmental 457(b) plans, including the approved method for correcting them and the penalty for...
A client recently reviewed a census of participants in its deferred compensation plan and found that the covered group amounted to nearly 15% of its...
With the April 15 deadline for distributing excess elective deferrals fast approaching, this post summarizes the rules for correcting excess elective...
Twenty years ago this month the Enron Corporation imploded in spectacular fashion and declared bankruptcy. In the weeks leading up to its bankruptcy...
UPDATED (added May 21, 2024): The FTC Final Rule on Noncompete Clauses applies to tax-exempt organizations who become subject to FTC jurisdiction as...
Many employers maintain formal or informal severance policies or practices that they use sporadically. Other employers may implement a severance...
Tax-exempt organizations often provide deferred compensation to their officers, key employees, and most highly compensated employees. Like current...
On Friday, March 27, 2020, the $2 trillion assistance package known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”)...
Deferred compensation payments are due to one of your former executives, but the former executive is nowhere to be found. You know that the IRS has...
IRS Notice 2019-09 provides guidance intended to help "applicable tax-exempt employers" determine whether compensation paid to their most highly...
Much has been written about the Department of Labor's final rule regarding disability benefit claims procedures (the "Final Rule"), which took effect...
The executive compensation provisions of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act have been widely reported, and public companies and tax-exempt employers are now...
Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on December 20, 2017, and President Trump signed the bill into law on December 22nd. As everyone knows by...
It's early days yet for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act released last week by the House Ways and Means Committee, but one thing is clear: Congressional tax...
It has been a long time coming (nine years to be exact), but the Treasury Department has at last published proposed regulations that harmonize...
Employers grapple with the employee benefits consequences of employment terminations in a variety of contexts. In the retirement plan context when a...
Code Section 409A(a)(2)(A) prescribes six times or events when deferred compensation may be paid: separation from service, the disability of the...
Special thanks to Peter J. Dill, a Senior Consultant at Towers Watson (Boston), for his consultation and input on this post. Treasury Regulations...
The Final Regulations under Code Section 409A took effect nearly five years ago. By now those of us who regularly deal with deferred compensation...
Employers large and small often ask us how they can reward key employees for their contributions to the success of the company and provide a...
We are pleased to offer a guest post by Warren Kerper, Managing Principal in the Boston office of Sullivan, Cotter and Associates, Inc.Warren advises...
Executive pay in the exempt organization setting has been subject to scrutiny and regulation since long before corporate bad actors and the financial...
Many tax-qualified Section 401(k) plans provide that a participant who takes a hardship distribution pursuant to Treasury Regulation Section...
Relief for nonqualified deferred compensation plan operational failures made pursuant to Internal Revenue Service guidance under Section 409A...