Deferred compensation is an arrangement in which a portion of an employee's income is paid out at a later date after which the income was earned. Examples of deferred compensation include pensions, retirement plans, and employee stock options. The primary benefit of most deferred compensation is the deferral of tax to the date(s) at which the employee receives the income. United States In the US, Internal Revenue Code section 409A regulates the treatment for federal income tax purposes of "non-qualified deferred compensation", the timing of deferral elections, and of distributions. While technically "deferred compensation" is any arrangement where an employee receives wages after they have earned them, the more common use of the phrase refers to "non-qualified" deferred compensation and a specific part of the tax code that provides a special benefit to corporate executives and other highly compensated corporate employees. Non-qualifying Deferred compensation is a written agreement between an employer and an employee where the employee voluntarily agrees to have part of their compensation withheld by the company, invested on their behalf, and given to them at some pre-specified point in the future. Non-qualifying differs from qualifying in that Employers may also pick and choose which employees they provide deferred compensation benefits to rather than being required to offer the same plan to all employees. This flexibility in the law allows for public entities the choice of whether to provide benefits to different employee bargaining units. They offer flexibility. The employer can treat those chosen differently. The benefit promised need not follow any of the rules associated with qualified plans (e.g., the 25% or $55,000 limit on contributions to defined contribution plans). The vesting schedule can be whatever the employer would like it to be. Companies may provide deferred compensation benefits to independent contractors, not just employees. The employer contributions are not tax-deductible Employees must pay taxes on deferred compensation at the time such compensation is eligible to be received (not just when it is drawn out). Deferred compensation is also sometimes referred to as deferred comp, qualified deferred compensation, DC, non-qualified deferred comp, NQDC, or golden handcuffs. Deferred compensation is only available to employees of public entities, senior management, and other highly compensated employees of companies. Although DC is not restricted to public companies, there must be a serious risk that a key employee could leave for a competitor, and deferred comp is a "sweetener" to try to