This course explores all aspects of employee compensation, and provides real-life examples of compensation options, health and life insurance strategies, and fringe benefits to help you understand the important and sometimes unexpected consequences of different planning approaches. Each planning technique is explained in clear, easy-to-understand language that takes you through the legal and regulatory requirements for instituting and maintaining benefits while also explaining the tax consequences of different approaches.

This comprehensive course:

- Describes all aspects of employee benefits planning
- Contains detailed discussions surrounding the relevant planning considerations, regulatory requirements, and tax consequences for each topic
- Includes benefits that can be used for all types of employees, including full and part-time employees, entry and mid-level employees, temporary employees, and executives
- Explains both qualified and unqualified benefits
- Outlines both immediate and deferred compensation strategies
- Describes important regulatory and tax considerations for fringe benefits such as company cars, moving expenses, and loans to employees

For those looking to learn more on employee benefits and retirement planning, this course provides detailed source material references to serve as jumping-off points for conducting deeper research, including:

- New coverage of Qualified Small Employer HRAs (QSEHRAs)
- Updated health insurance and health cost management strategies for the current regulatory environment
- The latest strategies and requirements form the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 as it relates to all tax information
- Newly updated deferred compensation requirements cover both large and small employers, including important nondiscrimination testing and compliance procedures
- Expanded nonqualified plan coverage which provides solution outside of the traditional deferred comp offerings

Topics covered in this course include:

Chapter 1 The Process of employee Benefit Planning 1

Chapter 2 Cash Compensation Planning 5

Chapter 3 Annual Bonus Plan 11

Chapter 4 Severance Pay Plan 15

Chapter 5 Golden Parachute Arrangements 19

Compensation-Equity Options

Chapter 6 Stock Option 23

Chapter 7 Incentive Stock Option (ISO) 27

Chapter 8 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (Section 423 Plan) 31

Chapter 9 Restricted Stock Plan 35

Deferred Compensation-Overview

Chapter 10 Designing the Right Retirement Plan 41

Chapter 11 Planning for Retirement Needs 57

Deferred Compensation-Rules for Qualified Plans

Chapter 12 Designing a Qualified Retirement Plan 71

Chapter 13 Qualified Plans: General Rules for Qualification 75

Chapter 14 Qualified Plans: Distributions and Loans 87

Chapter 15 Qualified Plan Investments 101

Chapter 16 ERISA Reporting and Disclosure 107

Chapter 17 Estate and Retirement Planning with Qualified Plans and IRAs 115

Chapter 18 Life Insurance in a Qualified Plan 127

Deferred Compensation-Defined Contribution Plans

Chapter 19 Section 401(k) Plan 139

Chapter 20 Traditional IRA 151

Chapter 21 Roth Plans 159

Chapter 22 Profit Sharing Plan 165

Chapter 23 Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) 173

Chapter 24 Savings/Match Plan 183

Chapter 25 Money Purchase Pension Plan 189

Chapter 26 Cross-Tested/Age-Weighted Plan 195

Deferred Compensation-Defined Benefit Plans

Chapter 27 Defined Benefit Pension Plan 201

Chapter 28 Cash Balance Pension Plan 209

Other Employer-Sponsored Deferred Compensation Plans

Chapter 29 HR 10 (Keogh) Plan 215

Chapter 30 Simple IRA 221

Chapter 31 Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) 225

Chapter 32 Tax Deferred Annuity 229

Chapter 33 Nonqualified Deferred Compensation 239

Chapter 34 Section 457 Plan 269

Health and Disability Plans

Chapter 35 Designing the Right Health Benefit Plan 277

Chapter 36 Group Health Plans 283

Chapter 37 Alternatives to Group Health Plans 301

Chapter 38 Flexible Spending Account 312

Chapter 39 Health Savings Account (Section 223 Plan) 319

Chapter 40 Cafeteria Plan 327

Chapter 41 Sick Pay (Short-Term Disability) 331

Chapter 42 Long-Term Disability and Long-Term Care Insurance 335

Life Insurance Plans

Chapter 43 Designing the Right Life Insurance Plan 343

Chapter 44 Group Term Life Insurance 347

Chapter 45 Split Dollar Life Insurance 355

Chapter 46 Key Employee Life Insurance 365

Chapter 47 Death Benefit Only (DBO) Plan 369

Ethics and Compliance Issues

Chapter 48 Knowing the Rules: Government Regulations and How to Find Them 375

Chapter 49 Common Control Rules 381

Chapter 50 Fiduciary Breach Litigation 389

Chapter 51 Age and Sex Discrimination 393

Chapter 52 Accounting for Benefit Plans 397

Appendices

Appendix A Benefit Plans for Proprietors, Partners, and

S Corporation Shareholders 401

Appendix B Qualified Plan Fact Finder 405

Appendix C Long-Term Incentives: A Comparative Analysis 429

Appendix D Government Benefits 433

Appendix E Designing the Right Package of Fringe Benefits 459