It’s somewhat shocking that it has already been 12 years since IRC §409A was effective on January 1, 2005. Maybe it seems so quick because I’ve only completed reading roughly 1,955 of the 58,000 pages of legislation that was enacted, in large part, because of the perceived abuses by Enron executives as their empire was crumbling (really, it was only about 450 pages…but give it a shot sometime and tell me that it doesn’t feel like 58,000 after about 10 minutes).

All in all, as a Consultant in the executive benefit space that spends every day living in the 409A world, the legislation, while odd in certain respects, isn’t all that bad. In fact, many in my world have learned to appreciate the path or guide that 409A provides with respect to plan design and management. Really, it was the lack of structure that existed with Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation (NQDC) Plans that got us into this situation in the first place. READ MORE