Why were changes made to deferred-compensation laws?
Section 409A was enacted by Congress to prevent perceived abuses by executives and companies in the area of deferred compensation. Deferred-compensation abuses are simply another one in the long list of issues that surfaced as a result of the recent corporate scandals that everyone is all too familiar with. Part of the concern was the perception that there was too much flexibility under prior law to offer benefits to employees and other service providers that had a built-in value today, but were not taxable until a later date. How should a company determine which plans are subject to the new rules? Companies really have to be careful about assuming that 409A will not apply to a given situation based on the notion that they’re not doing something that anyone would perceive as ‘abusive.’ 409A is broad in scope and can apply to many arrangements that would fall outside what most people would consider deferred compensation such as stock options, bonus arrangements, severance agreements and
