Instructions: Please read the full course of study before taking the 30-question exam on the material covered in the course. To earn continuing education credit (3 CE credits for CFPs, 3 PACE credit hours for CLU® or ChFCs®, or 6 CPE hours for credentialed ASPPA members), you must read the entire course of study and then score 70% or better in the exam. When you are ready to take the exam, click on the link to it at the bottom of this page.
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Enrollment : Basics
- Plan Design Features To Increase Participation In Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans
- NQDC Enrollment Made Simple: What You Must Decide Before You Start
- UPDATES! At year-end 2021, when I am deciding on salary deferrals into my nonqualified plan for 2022, what should be the top issues in my decision-making?
- Will my company give me a summary plan description for its nonqualified plan?
- UPDATES! What percentage of eligible executives and key employees usually elect to participate in NQDC plans?
- Should I participate in my 401(k) or 403(b) plan before my employer’s NQDC plan?
- Can I borrow money from my NQDC account?
- UPDATES! If I am an outside director or consultant, is the income at deferral and distribution reported on Form 1099-MISC and Form 1099-NEC?
- What appears on my W-2 for the year of income deferral?
- Can my company use part of the amount I deferred to pay the FICA (Social Security and Medicare) taxes?
- UPDATED! When and how are Social Security and Medicare taxes (FICA) paid when I defer my income?
- Can I elect to trigger my distribution upon certain events, such as death, disability, or job loss, rather than just at a specific date in the future?
- Will there be some type of enrollment form?
- Do I need to elect the percentage I defer, the year when it will be distributed, and the form of payment when it is distributed?
- How soon after becoming eligible do I need to enroll in the NQDC plan?
- At a minimum, what do I usually need to decide when I enroll?
- Do I pay the administrative fees on my plan to enroll? Do I pay back my company for the taxes?
- Can directors, consultants, and independent contractors participate in NQDC plans?
- Are only senior executives eligible to participate in NQDC plans?
- How much of my compensation can I defer?
- What types of compensation can be deferred through NQDC plans?
Enrollment : Elections
- NEW! Impact Of The SECURE Act On NQDC Plans And Retirement Distribution Elections
- To Defer Or Not To Defer, That Is The Question: Same-Year Deferral Options Under Section 409A
- NQDC Enrollment Made Simple: What You Must Decide Before You Start
- UPDATES! The Terms Of Your Company’s NQDC Plan: What You Can Expect (Part 1)
- Your Company’s NQDC Plan: What You Must Understand To Maximize Its Value
- Is there a distribution-election strategy when I’m uncertain in the intermediate term about my own cash flow and the company’s finances?
- UPDATES! What restrictions affect when I can receive NQDC distributions and what I can elect? What can trigger an early payout?
- UPDATED! My tax rates are likely to rise in the future. Can I change my deferral election and instead receive the money this year? Similarly, can I move a scheduled future income distribution into this year?
- Why do I need to make my deferral election in the year before I actually would receive the compensation?
- Is it better to elect distributions as a lump sum or as an installment over a period of years, like an annuity?
- Which is better: a class-year plan or an account-based plan?
- What are class-year plans and account-based plans for deferrals and distributions?
- What is a laddering or bucket approach to distributions?
- If I am not certain about when I should take my distributions, when should I elect to receive them?
- How much of my compensation should I defer?
- Can I at least change my distribution election when I lose my job?
- Can I elect a different timing for just a part of my already scheduled future distributions, or must my subsequent deferrals all be treated the same?
- How do I change the timing or form of my distribution?
- UPDATES! Can I (or my company) fix a tax mistake I made in deferring my income or in the distribution without being penalized?
- What are the rules on taxation and deferral elections for stock grants that allow deferral of share delivery at vesting?
- Can I change my distribution election to receive the money at another date?
- UPDATES! Can my deferral election ever be canceled?
- What are the IRS rules for the timing of a deferral election? Can an election be revoked or changed?
- Can I make an evergreen election that applies the same distribution year and type to all the amounts I defer?
- At what time of year do I make my election to defer income? Is the timing different for performance-based compensation?
- Do I need to defer all of the distributions to the same year?
- Do I need to defer the same percentage of my salary and my bonus?
Distributions : Advanced
- NEW! Impact Of The SECURE Act On NQDC Plans And Retirement Distribution Elections
- Make The Most Of Social Security Benefits With NQDC Distributions
- How Bankruptcy Affects Your Nonqualified Deferred Compensation
- NQDC Distributions: Learn The Rules Before It’s Too Late
- Can I forfeit or modify my NQDC plan benefits?
- How do the taxes under the Affordable Care Act affect my Medicare tax rate and my planning for nonqualified deferred compensation?
- Is there a distribution-election strategy when I’m uncertain in the intermediate term about my own cash flow and the company’s finances?
- My company plans to spin off my division. What can happen to my NQDC plan and my elections for deferrals and distributions?
- UPDATED! My tax rates are likely to rise in the future. Can I change my deferral election and instead receive the money this year? Similarly, can I move a scheduled future income distribution into this year?
- When I receive distributions from my NQDC account, will I need to make estimated tax payments?
- Is it better to elect distributions as a lump sum or as an installment over a period of years, like an annuity?
- Which is better: a class-year plan or an account-based plan?
- What are class-year plans and account-based plans for deferrals and distributions?
- What is a laddering or bucket approach to distributions?
- When I retire, or when I reach the age when I thought I would retire, what happens with my NQDC distributions?
- UPDATES! Can certain life events accelerate distributions, such job loss, disability, an unforeseeable emergency, or death?
- UPDATES! What happens if my company refuses to pay my distributions or other conflicts arise?
- Can distributions from NQDC plans affect distributions from qualified plans, such as a 401(k)?
- Why did some executives in the past have the ability to receive a lump distribution of all their assets in the NQDC?
- UPDATES! Can my company discontinue or terminate its nonqualified deferred compensation plan and give me a lump-sum distribution?
- Can I roll over my distributions from the NQDC plan into an IRA and keep the tax-deferred status?
- Can my company delay the payment without causing me to be hit with a penalty?
- Can I change my distribution from a lump sum to an installment schedule, or vice versa?
- UPDATES! I plan to move. What if I live in a different state at distribution than the state where I worked? How is the distribution taxed?
- UPDATES! How is the income distributed to me reported on my tax return?
- UPDATES! If I am an outside director or consultant, is the income at deferral and distribution reported on Form 1099-MISC and Form 1099-NEC?
- What appears on my W-2 for the year of income distribution?
- How does my company obtain money from me to pay withholding taxes when I receive distributions under the NQDC plan?
- What appears on my W-2 if my plan has violated Section 409A?
- Which tax rates apply to distributions I receive in company shares: ordinary income or capital gains? What is the value of the distributed shares based on?
- UPDATES! Do senior executives or directors need to make personal SEC filings, such as Forms 4 and 5, for NQDC participation or distributions?
Distributions : Payout Basics
- NQDC Distributions: Learn The Rules Before It’s Too Late
- Job Loss: How It Affects Your Nonqualified Deferred Compensation
- Opportunities And Risks: The Role Of Nonqualified Deferred Compensation In Your Financial Planning (Part 2)
- UPDATES! The Terms Of Your Company’s NQDC Plan: What You Can Expect (Part 2)
- Can personal creditors reach or garnish my nonqualified deferred compensation distributions?
- What is an in-service distribution?
- Is there a difference between triggering a distribution and accelerating it?
- If I am not certain about when I should take my distributions, when should I elect to receive them?
- UPDATES! What if I have a financial or medical hardship? Can I get a distribution?
- Can I get a distribution in stock?
- Can my distribution be linked to a formula?
- Can I elect a different timing for just a part of my already scheduled future distributions, or must my subsequent deferrals all be treated the same?
- Can I get a distribution at any time and just take a “haircut” on it by paying a penalty to my company, or is that only for grandfathered plans?
- Can I accelerate my distributions to withdraw the money earlier?
- If the distribution is not made at the exact time specified in the plan, how much earlier or later than the scheduled distribution date can I receive the payment without being penalized?
- Can I change the timing or form for just part of my scheduled distribution, or even just one installment payment?
- Are the rules different if I change the timing of an installment distribution?
- How do I change the timing or form of my distribution?
- UPDATES! At distribution, will I receive a lump sum of cash, or will I get installment payments over a number of years?
- Do I need to reach a certain age to receive distributions? Is there a particular age when I must start receiving distributions?
- Can I get distributions of my deferred compensation whenever I want?
- Are the taxes I owe at distribution based on the value of the amount I deferred at the start or on the value of the distribution I receive?
- Do I have to pay federal unemployment tax (FUTA) on my NQDC distributions?
- Will I owe any income taxes when I elect to participate, when my income is deferred, or when I receive distributions?
- Can I easily postpone or accelerate distributions?
- Do I need to defer all of the distributions to the same year?
- Do I need to elect the percentage I defer, the year when it will be distributed, and the form of payment when it is distributed?
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