IRS Notice 2019-9 Provides Interim Guidance for Tax-Exempt Organizations Paying Excess Executive Compensation

The IRS has released a technical interim guidance on Section 4960, which was added to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Very generally, Section 4960 imposes an excise tax in an amount equal to the corporate tax rate (currently, 21 percent) on that portion of a covered employee’s pay that exceeds $1 million or is treated as an excess parachute payment (as explained below). The tax is imposed upon the applicable tax-exempt organization and its related organizations and became effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017. For a high-level summary of the law change, please see our earlier blog post.