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Executive Compensation

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On Nov. 29, 2021, the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s Office of the Chief Accountant and the Division of Corporation Finance released Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 120 (SAB 120), which is effective immediately and provides guidance on how to properly recognize and disclose the compensation cost for “spring-loaded” awards made to executives of public companies subject to reporting requirements under US securities laws. SAB 120 describes spring-loaded awards as share-based compensation…

Many employers will be surprised to learn that the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”), which was signed into law on March 11, 2021 and is primarily intended to provide an economic stimulus package of $1.9 trillion, expanded the group of covered employees under section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (“Section 162(m)”), to include the five most highly compensated employees in addition to certain of the individuals already included…

Large companies doing business in San Francisco may soon be subject to an additional tax if voters approve the so-called “Overpaid Executive Gross Receipts Tax” this coming November. Joining a minority of municipal governments that have imposed an “executive pay ratio tax” on the heels of the SEC’s CEO pay ratio disclosure rules, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors recently approved a ballot initiative for this November’s election that calls for the imposition of a…

The Tenth Circuit has affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a plaintiff shareholder’s claim that withholding shares to satisfy taxes on a restricted stock unit (RSU) violated Exchange Act Section 16(b) (see Olagues v. Muncrief, No. 18-5018 (10th Cir. 2019)).  As we outlined last year in a blog on the lower court’s decision, the plaintiff’s claim was based on the non-exempt acquisition of shares by two executives within six months of the date that shares…

On December 7th, the IRS issued Notice 2018-97 to provide initial guidance on the new private company income inclusion deferral regime enacted under Code Section 83(i) as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Section 83(i)”). Under the deferral regime, eligible employees of eligible privately-held companies may elect to defer payment of federal income taxes due on exercise of stock options or settlement of restricted stock units (“RSUs”) for up to five years…

Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) on November 21, 2018 issued “preliminary” FAQs addressing a few, but not insignificant, changes to its compensation policies for 2019.  Unfortunately, these FAQs did not provide much-anticipated guidance on performance awards, following the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s elimination of the “qualified performance-based compensation” exception to the general deductibility disallowance under Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code for compensation exceeding $1 million payable to “covered employees” of publicly traded companies. …

Last week, the IRS issued Notice 2018-68 containing initial guidance on the amendments to section 162(m) made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”), including the transitional relief for written binding contracts. On balance, the guidance is not particularly favorable to taxpayers, as it takes a narrow view of the grandfathering relief for arrangements in effect under prior law, particularly for arrangements with negative discretion, and a broad view of the new group of…

U.S. tax reform continues to move through the Halls of Congress at a brisk pace. Yesterday the House approved the bill proposed by the House Ways and Means Committee. For a discussion of the compensation-related provisions of the House bill, please refer to our alert dated November 13, 2017. The current draft of the conceptual mark-up under review by the Senate Finance Committee (the “Senate Mark”) has been amended in a way that generally aligns…

We know we are not supposed to get too excited about a proposed tax bill, but The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the amended version of which was released by the House on November 3, 2017, is no ordinary tax bill. Not only does it propose sweeping changes to the taxation of executive compensation and employee benefits, it aims to be effective as of January 1, 2018 – which means limited time to mobilize against…

Although to date, the new administration has not been successful in moving forward its legislative agenda, it has aggressively pursued its goal of reducing the regulatory burden on American businesses. At the 2017 Global Equity Organization National Equity Compensation Forum, Baker McKenzie will be discussing the latest regulatory and legislative developments in executive compensation. Some of the hottest topics on every company’s mind we will be addressing include: The Department of Labor Fiduciary Rule -…