Exempt Organizations Advisory - Law Firms Seek One-Year Delay of Deadline for Section 409A Compliance

By: Catherine W. Wilkinson (cwilkinson@steptoe.com)
Suzanne Ross McDowell (smcdowell@steptoe.com)

On August 21st, a group of 92 law firms, including Steptoe & Johnson LLP, sent a letter to Internal Revenue Service Acting Commissioner Kevin Brown requesting an extension of the December 31, 2007 deadline for compliance with IRC section 409A, to December 31, 2008.

• The firms argued that the period until the current deadline is not sufficient to ensure both thorough compliance with section 409A and appropriate analysis by taxpayers of the issues raised by the required amendments.  The letter added that “attempted compliance with the deadline is imposing an undue strain on resources and administrative burdens on our clients and their service providers (including attorneys, actuaries, compensation consultants, accountants and record keepers).”  
• The firms requested that all transition relief currently scheduled to expire this year be extended to December 31, 2008, and that the applicability of the final regulations under section 409A be changed to January 1, 2009.
• For additional information, contact  Catherine W. Wilkinson, Anne E. Moran, Don Wellington, or Ellen Kohn.
  

The letter can be accessed via our website.