Over the last several years, Congress and other governmental agencies have made significant changes to the rules governing executive compensation and nonqualified deferred compensation plans. These changes include those mandated by section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code, added in 2004, and the introduction of new compensation disclosure rules by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2006.
Employers who maintain nonqualified deferred compensation plans for their executives and employees must be aware of these new rules, which require that many of these plans be...