This excludes approximately $35M to $36M of stock-based compensation expense and any potential expenses related to benefit programs funded through
rabbi trusts.
Rabbi trusts maintain their position as the top choice for a security vehicle, employed by 79.
She has also researched and advised public and private employer clients regarding issues related to design, preparation, communication, administration and operation of qualified plans and the related funding vehicles, including pension and profit sharing plans, 401(k) plans,
rabbi trusts, and cafeteria plans.
Schift said most companies with which he works today create
Rabbi Trusts, which are one type of trust-owned life insurance plans.
Secular trusts are not as popular as
rabbi trusts, in part because of questions surrounding their taxation.
See also, the discussion of
Rabbi Trusts on page 510.
Concern for benefit security is significant, and employees will want to explore some of the financing (informal funding) arrangements described later, such as corporate-owned life insurance (COLI),
rabbi trusts, or surety bonds.
The most common options made available to attract and maintain key executives using NQDC plans are life insurance plans, excess-benefit plans, top-hat plans, severance plans, deferred bonuses, vested masts,
rabbi trusts, secular trusts, stock options, phantom stock, stock appreciation rights, and golden, silver, tin, and pension parachutes.
Rabbi trusts enhance employee security with minimal threat to the income tax advantages of the nonqualified deferred compensation plan.
In recent years,
rabbi trusts have been created in foreign countries that make it more difficult, and at times impossible, for general creditors to access the funds.
Among the latter, sources cite, for example, equity split-dollar plans, off-shore
Rabbi trusts and cutting-edge techniques that call for an IRS opinion letter.
The entries in this guide answer 500-plus questions about the different types of nonqualified deferred compensation plans available to executives, and the rules governing
rabbi trusts, life insurance, stock plans, Section 457 plans, withholding taxes, funding, and mutual fund options.
