# NQDC Calculator

> NQDC Calculator (https://nqdccalculator.com) is a web-based deferred compensation calculator. It helps employees who are eligible for an employer's non-qualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plan, also called a 409A plan or executive deferral plan, decide whether deferring part of their salary or bonus beats taking the cash, paying tax now and investing it in a taxable brokerage account. It is an educational tool. It does not give tax, legal, investment or financial advice and is not affiliated with any employer or plan.

## What it calculates

- One annual federal tax calculation per year for each path (defer, or take the cash) and for a no-change baseline: ordinary brackets, the standard or itemized deduction, qualified dividends and long-term gains through the IRS worksheet, the 3.8% net investment income tax, the $3,000 capital loss deduction with carryforward, and taxable Social Security under IRS Publication 915.
- State income tax with each state's progressive brackets by filing status, including enacted future rate changes, state capital-gain preferences, Washington's capital gains tax, and custom progressive brackets plus a local income tax rate for any state.
- Payout schedules from a lump sum to 15 annual installments, a former work state's right to tax the payout, and the federal protection in 4 U.S.C. §114 for 10 or more substantially equal annual installments.
- Employer credits with vesting and the employee payroll tax on them, 401(k) employer contributions lost by deferring, and the employer's credit (default) risk, including the break-even annual default risk.
- An optimizer that searches every whole deferral percentage and payout schedule, a sensitivity matrix across two assumptions, a year-by-year ledger for both paths, CSV and printable reports.

Results are in today's dollars. Inputs include salary, bonus, filing status, other income, the deferral percentage and plan cap, years until leaving the employer, the payout schedule, expected income during payout, and the states lived in now and at payout. An optional step-by-step guided setup explains each input and where to find it.

## Not modeled

AMT, tax credits, the QBI deduction, IRMAA Medicare surcharges, SALT cap recalculation, married filing separately, actual tax lots, payout streams that change from year to year, and plan-specific rules beyond the terms a user enters.

## Pricing

- Free account: guided setup, all inputs, and the headline verdict as a range.
- Pro: $24.99 per year, renewing automatically until cancelled. Adds exact results and the full breakdown, the optimizer, sensitivity analysis, year-by-year detail, exports and saved scenarios.
- Enterprise licenses for employers and plan sponsors: employees get Pro by signing in with a work email on the company's domains. Contact plansponsor@nqdccalculator.com.

## Pages

- [Home: how it works, features, pricing and FAQ](https://nqdccalculator.com/)
- [For employers and plan sponsors](https://nqdccalculator.com/employers/)
- [Terms of Service](https://nqdccalculator.com/terms/)
- [Privacy Policy](https://nqdccalculator.com/privacy/)

## Privacy

Calculator inputs stay in the user's browser unless they save a scenario to their account. Employers with a license never receive individual inputs, results or elections.

## Contact

- Plan sponsors and licensing: plansponsor@nqdccalculator.com
- Privacy and support: privacy@nqdccalculator.com