Compliance April 23, 2007

Group: Congressional Negotiators Drop NQDC Limit

April 23, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - U.S. House and Senate negotiators hammering out a small business relief compromise tax bill have dropped a provision that would have limited the amounts that can be shielded from tax under nonqualified deferred compensation plans (NQDC), a business lobbying group said Monday.
Reported by

A news release from the ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) said theWashington, D.C. organization was pleased with the move. “We believe the tax-writing committee chairmen made the right decision. Congress should not be in the business of determining pay,” ERIC President Mark Ugoretz said in the announcement.

The retirement services group said it has been working against the provisions since the Senate Finance Committee included them in the Senate-passed version of H.R. 2, the Small Business and Work Opportunity Act of 2007 (See NQDC Provision Survives Senate Vote ).

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According to the now-dropped provisions, there would have been restrictions on the deferred compensation that an employee may earn in a year to an amount equal to the lesser of $1 million or the employee’s average annual pay over a five-year base period, would not have excluded earnings on previously deferred amounts, and would have excluded any type of benefit-restoration plan.
 
Added Ugoretz in the organization’s statement: “We do not believe we have seen the end of this effort; going forward, we need to make sure these provisions do not come back in other legislation.”

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