Workforce Bulletin

As year-end approaches, it is an opportune time for companies to run an internal audit of their nonqualified deferred compensation plans to flag any potential violations of IRC Section 409A (“Section 409A”). Generally, the sooner a potential violation of Section 409A is identified, the more options a company has to correct the potential violation.

The guidance provided by the IRS regarding correcting 409A failures provides additional flexibility if errors are corrected within the year in which they occur, which means that after December 31, 2025, it could be more difficult and more costly to fix a 409A failure that occurred in 2025.

On July 4, 2025, there were more than hot dogs and fireworks. President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), a comprehensive law that implements several of the administration’s tax, health, defense, and energy policy initiatives. This followed a flurry of activity earlier in the week in which the U.S. Senate narrowly voted to approve a substitute amendment to the OBBB. The Senate version resembles a prior version of the bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on May 22, 2025, but with certain key changes. All citations in this post are to the Senate provisions.

Below, we provide a summary of this legislation’s notable provisions that will directly impact employee benefits and executive compensation.

However, the law is sweeping and broader than the provisions noted here. Other, more contentious provisions in the OBBB, related to Medicaid funding cuts and efforts to decrease enrollment in the Affordable Care Act Marketplace Exchange plans could indirectly cause increased enrollment in employer-sponsored plans.