Now that the House and Senate are on the precipice of passing tax reform, we thought it might be helpful to provide a one-stop-shop resource for the historical bills that led to the final product. Also, as an executive compensation lawyer, I had to chronicle the rise, fall, rise and fall again of the proposed Code Section 409B.

As may know, both the House and Senate flirted with the idea of substantially remodeling the rules governing nonqualified deferred compensation. While the rule never made it into the final bills, if passed it would have provided that deferred compensation would be includable in income once there was no longer a “substantial risk of forfeiture” (i.e., once it was vested). If folks are interested, we have detailed analysis regarding the potential impact of Code Section 409B. While this rule didn’t make the final cut, proposed tax rules have a funny way of resurfacing in
new or similar forms in the future…

House Committee Bill – The emergence of Code Section 409B!

Final House Bill – Code Section 409B removed.

Senate Finance Committee Bill – Code Section 409B returns!

Final Senate Bill – The death knell to Code Section 409B.

Conference Agreement for H.R. 1 –