I continue to receive a fair amount of email concerning the full implementation of IRS Section 409(a) which is required by December 31, 2008. I suspect that these comments are in response to a couple of earlier posts, including this article on Section 409a valuation considerations for venture backed businesses.
Provided below are some additional links for financial executives and business owners, as well as the professional valuation and CPA community, to find executive benefits plans and employment agreements which contain significant language concerning implementation of 409(a) within those legal agreements. Drafting new plans, or amending prior plans, is becoming an increasingly urgent consideration as the clock ticks down to December 31, 2008 when full compliance is required. Of course, I’ll leave it to the valuation professionals and CPAs out there to interpret the 400 pages of regulations and comments contained within IRS 409a, but I thought these links would be helpful. They are broken down 3 categories: links to specific employment agreements and plans containing 409a provisions; general employment agreement and benefits plans links, and to a background link I thought was helpful.
- Specific links to agreements and plans containing significant 409a provisions:
- Employment Retention Agreement with 409a provisions for Avi Biopharma, counsel is Davis Wright
- Employment Retention Agreement with 409a provisions for CMS Bancorp, counsel is Paul Hastings
- Employment Agreement with 409a provisions for Scientific Games Corp, counsel is Vedder Price
- Separation Agreement for EPIX Pharmaceuticals, counsel is Goodwin Proctor
- Form of Severance Agreement for Cephalon Corporation, counsel is Morgan Lewis
- Deferred Executive Compensation Plan for Safeway
- Deferred Management Compensation Plan for Stanley Works
- Links to thousands of employment agreements, employee benefits plans, and severance agreements
- A general overview of 409a that seemed right on point for owners of early stage, venture backed businesses (and of course, the venture capital firms that love them)
If you have any additional helpful resources, please send them along.
