<nobr>May 12, 2004</nobr>

Senate Passes JOBS Bill (S. 1637) (Includes ERIC Side-by-side Comparison)

On May 11, 2004 the Senate passed S. 1637, the Jumpstart Our Business Strength (JOBS) Act, informally known as the FSC/ETI or International Tax bill. As passed, the bill includes provisions similar to the nonqualified deferred compensation provisions found in the National Employee Savings and Trust Equity Guarantee Act approved by the Senate Finance Committee last fall.

The nonqualified deferred compensation provisions in the bill would overhaul the income tax treatment of nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements. If enacted in its current form, the bill would require employers to revise deferred compensation arrangements before the end of 2004.

The House is currently expected to work quickly to pass its version of bill, which, at present, contains similar provisions. ERIC has lobbied Senate members to changes provisions in the Senate bill that would a.) limit the gross income inclusion for failure to adhere to the new provisions only to those participants in the plan who are affected by the failure, and b.) expand the investment options allowable under NQDC plans to those comparable to the options available in the qualified defined contribution plan available to the greatest number of employees. ERIC will continue to work to change these provisions before a final House-Senate bill is agreed to.

If you have additional issues that should be raised, please email Vanessa Scott at vscott@eric.org.

ERIC's letter to the Senate is attached and can also be found on ERIC OnLine at:
http://www.eric.org/forms/documents/DocumentFormPublic/viewDoc?id=304700000007

A side-by-side comparison of the current House and Senate NQDC provisions is also available on ERIC OnLine at:
http://www.eric.org/forms/uploadFiles/302B00000006.filename.FSC-ETITable.pdf.

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