The IRS has issued its two annual covered compensation tables for the 2012 plan year. The tables are used by defined benefit plans that are integrated with Social Security to determine contributions and permitted disparity.
Defined benefit plans integrated with Social Security may provide participants an additional contribution based on participants' compensation above a certain level without violating antidiscrimination rules. Plans may use covered compensation tables issued by the IRS to determine the amounts of each eligible participant's covered compensation. Participants' covered compensation is computed as the average (without indexing) of the taxable wage base in effect for each calendar year during the 35-year period ending with the last day of the calendar year in which the employee attains (or will attain) social security retirement age. A 35-year period is used for all individuals regardless of their year of birth. In determining an employee's covered compensation for a plan year, the taxable wage base for all calendar years beginning after the first day of the plan year is assumed to be the same as the taxable wage base in effect as of the beginning of the plan year.
The regular compensation table ranges from employee birth years of 1907 to 1979 and later. The IRS also issues a rounded compensation table that ranges from 1937 to 1974 and later. The tables can be found in Rev. Rul. 2012-5, 2012-5 IRB here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb12-05.pdf.
