Insights
Client Alert
Impact of Internal Revenue Code Section 409A on Severance Benefits
August 16, 2005
Ethan Lipsig, Mark Poerio, Eric R. Keller and Stephen H. Harris
In the fall of 2004, Congress enacted IRC Section 409A. This deceptively simple section revolutionizes nonqualified deferred compensation, principally by establishing deadlines by which deferral elections must be made and by regulating distribution practices. However, Section 409A applies to a great deal more than just nonqualified deferred compensation plans.