Latham & Watkins October 20, 2023 | Number 3170 | Page 10
In practice, companies have very limited discretion about whether to recover excess compensation,
and there is no exception for de minimis amounts. In order to show that direct costs of recovery
exceed the recoverable amounts, the company would still have to navigate the normal recovery
process, run the calculations necessary to identify the recoverable amounts against which the
enforcement costs would be measured, and ultimately attempt to enforce the clawback policy, all
while monitoring and documenting the associated costs along the way to prove the recovery is a futile
effort. To obtain an exemption for a home-country law violation — the second recovery exemption
described above — the company must obtain an opinion of home-country counsel, and the exception
is only applicable if the recovery would violate a home-country law that was effective prior to
November 28, 2022. These requirements may result in companies having to enforce a clawback even
in countries where the clawback would be prohibited, document those efforts, and then determine that
recovery is impracticable due to costs under the first recovery exemption described above.
16. How does a company collect on a clawback? What if the executive officer has already
been paid the compensation and paid tax on the compensation, or the excess
compensation is in the form of shares that have already been sold? What if the officer
does not have the liquid assets to return erroneously issued compensation?
The amount of incentive compensation that is subject to recovery is the amount the officer received in
excess of the amount that would have been received based on the restated financial statements and
is computed on a pre-tax basis. Recovery may include reduction or cancelation by the company of
the excess incentive compensation, reimbursement or repayment by the officer and, to the extent
permitted by law or the applicable incentive plan, an offset of the excess incentive compensation
against other compensation payable by the company or an affiliate of the company to such person.
This recovery could result in a harsh outcome if an executive officer has already paid potentially 50%
of the excess incentive compensation to tax authorities. As discussed in more detail below, elective or
mandatory holdback or deferral policies that defer payment or settlement of incentive compensation
that is potentially subject to clawback, until a date after the expiration of the potential recovery period,
can help to mitigate these issues if structured in an appropriate manner. Where taxes have already
been paid, Section 1341 of the Internal Revenue Code, which codifies the “claim of right” doctrine,
may provide relief to an executive seeking to recoup taxes paid on compensation that is recovered
under the SEC Clawback Rules. Section 1341 is designed to allow a taxpayer who receives income
in one year and repays it in a later year to be in the same income tax position as having not received
the income at all by receiving a tax deduction or credit for the year of recovery. Executives and their
advisers will need to determine Section 1341’s application to a recovery under the SEC Clawback
Rules based on the relevant facts and circumstances in each case. Finally, to the extent all or a
portion of the excess incentive compensation has already been recovered pursuant to the Sarbanes-
Oxley Act Section 304 or otherwise, the amount already recovered may be credited to the amount
required to be recovered pursuant to the SEC Clawback Rules.
17. Does a company also need to recover any gains on the sale of shares that are
determined to be excess incentive compensation?
A company will have to consider whether to recover any gains on the sale of shares that are
determined to be excess incentive compensation. For example, a company may grant to an
executive officer PSUs that vest based on return on invested capital over a three-year performance
period ending in 2026, and in 2027, the officer decides to sell the shares that were earned upon
vesting of the PSUs to a third party. The company then determines in 2028 that a restatement of its
2025 financial statements is necessary and that the PSUs awarded resulted in the officer receiving
erroneously awarded compensation. Given that the shares have already been sold, the company