Deductible
Deductibles are typically used to deter the large number of claims that a consumer can be reasonably expected to bear the cost of. By restricting its coverage to events that are significant enough to incur large costs, the insurance firm expects to pay out slightly smaller amounts much less frequently, incurring much higher savings. As a result, insurance premiums are typically cheaper when they involve higher deductibles. For example, health insurance companies offer plans with high premiums and low deductibles, or plans with low premiums and high deductibles. One plan may have a premium of $1,087 a month with a $6,000 deductible, while a competitive plan may have a premium of $877 a month with a $12,700 deductible. The consumer with the $6,000 deductible will have to pay $6,000 in health care costs before the insurance plan pays anything. The consumer with the $12,700 deductible will have to pay $12,700.
Internal Revenue Code section 409A
Section 409A generally provides that "non-qualified deferred compensation" must comply with various rules regarding the timing of deferrals and distributions. Under regulations issued by the IRS, Section 409A applies whenever there is a "deferral of compensation," which occurs whenever an employee has a legally binding right during a taxable year to compensation that is or may be payable in a later taxable year. There are various exceptions, excluding from the Section 409A rules compensation that would otherwise fall within this definition, including: qualified plans like the pension and 401(k) plans, and welfare benefits including vacation leave, sick leave, disability pay, or death benefit plan. Other exceptions include those for "short-term deferrals" (i.e. payments made within 2.5 months of the year in which the deferred compensation is no longer subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture), certain stock option and stock appreciation rights and certain separation pay plans.