Planning topic
Executive Benefits
Executive benefits are arrangements a business uses to reward, keep, and plan for owners and key leaders beyond what a standard retirement plan allows.
They can help a company hold on to the people it depends on and let owners plan for their own futures. Unlike broad-based plans, they can be offered to selected people, but they come with their own rules and trade-offs, especially around taxes and timing.
What owners usually work through
- Deferred compensation arrangements that pay selected people later
- Executive bonus arrangements the business pays for on a selected person’s behalf
- Split-dollar arrangements, where the business and an executive share the costs and benefits of a policy
- Vesting and conditions that encourage key people to stay
- How each arrangement is taxed, reviewed with your CPA
Common questions
What are executive benefits?
They are arrangements that go beyond a company’s broad-based benefits and are offered to selected owners or leaders. Common types include deferred compensation, executive bonus arrangements, and split-dollar arrangements.
How are they different from a company retirement plan?
A qualified retirement plan generally has to cover employees broadly and follow rules against favoring owners. Executive benefits can be offered to selected people, but they usually do not receive the same upfront tax treatment and carry their own rules.
Why would a business offer them?
To reward and keep people who are hard to replace, to tie their rewards to the company’s long-term success, and to help owners plan for their own retirement and exit.
Who should review an executive benefit arrangement?
Your CPA and an attorney who handles employee benefits, along with Trino. The documents, the tax treatment, and how the arrangement fits the rest of the plan all need attention.
Executive Benefits near you
Trino talks with business owners across the Houston area. Each page below covers the same questions for owners in that community.
General education, not advice — talk with Trino and your own CPA or attorney before making a decision. Nothing is sold on this site.