This mini-course examines the various ideas, methods, and techniques capable of optimizing the overall compensation package for key employees and principals in small to medium-sized businesses. Qualified and non-qualified deferred compensation, benefit targeting, insurance programs, statutory fringe benefits, interest-free loans, and investment planning are investigated. Consideration is given to indirect compensation in the form of business entertainment, expense accounts, auto use, travel, and transportation. The new field of professional services is probed to provide tax, financial, and estate planning to the key executive. As a result of studying the assigned materials, you should be able to meet the objectives listed below.
ASSIGNMENT
At the start of the materials, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Deferral of income
* Avoiding taxable income
* Unreasonable compensation
* Nonqualified deferred compensation
* Basic types of corporate retirement plans
* Individual plans
* Fringe benefits
* Employer-provided automobile
* Business entertainment
* Business travel & transportation
Learning Objectives
After reading the materials, participants will be able to:
1. Identify types of income, from a financial and tax perspective, to be budgeted into cash so that income-producing assets can be acquired and managed for an effective investment plan.
2. Determine compensation to maximize the net dollar return using strategies that involve all aspects of how the client relates to the company for which they may be an owner, employee, or both.
3. Specify the differences between qualified deferred compensation plans and nonqualified deferred compensation plans, and recognize defined contribution plans from defined benefit plans identifying the characteristics of each so that business owners may choose the most suitable plan to accomplish their financial and worker incentive objectives.
4. Recognize the scope and variety of excluded fringe benefits including tax treatment, operational details, and level of incentive-based compensation.
5. Identify the disallowance of entertainment expenses, determine the tax treatment of reimbursements paid under accountable and unaccountable plans, and recognize deductible travel expenses undertaken for business.
6. Specify types of insurance that a company can provide its employees, define the various types of equity participation available from which companies may choose, and identify the basic types of buy-sell agreements.