A Canadian company adopting a deferred share unit plan (DSU plan) for its directors must consider U.S. tax implications for U.S. taxpayers. It is important to remember that U.S. citizens and U.S. residents for tax purposes...more
The DOL and IRS have issued relief for employers, participants, and beneficiaries regarding a number of deadlines with respect to employee benefit plans. This update reviews three recent pieces of guidance that provide...more
We have written about this in the past, but the message bears repeating each year. It is easy to overlook that employment agreements, change-in-control agreements, and severance agreements with U.S. taxpayers frequently...more
On August 21, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) released Notice 2018-68 (the “Notice”), which clarifies a number of changes made to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) by last year’s Public Law...more
While the recently enacted U.S. tax reform legislation did not overhaul executive compensation to the extent proposed in early forms of the bill, Section 162(m) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code was dramatically revised in a...more
A Canadian company (the employer) historically has not issued equity-based awards to employees of its U.S. subsidiaries, but it now is considering doing so. Past posts have addressed potential U.S. income tax pitfalls and the...more
Recently we blogged about pitfalls and potential adverse tax consequences for U.S. taxpayers with respect to deferred share unit awards that pay out following the participant’s termination of services. But what about...more
A Canadian company is planning to adopt a deferred share unit plan (DSU plan) for its directors. Only one or two of its directors are U.S. citizens or U.S. residents (“U.S. Directors”). With only one or two U.S. Directors,...more
Correction of Errors before Year End Could Avoid Costly 409A Penalties -
Sometimes overlooked is the fact that many employment, severance and change-of-control agreements are subject to U.S. Internal Revenue Code...more
IRS representatives have recently announced that the IRS has begun a compliance initiative project to check compliance with section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code (“409A”). ...more