De minimis amounts

[XTitan]

Way too many questions on this topic in my office:

The proposed regs say if you have a 409A compliant plan that provides for a mandatory lump sum of a specified amount, then paying that amount out is fine. If the plan doesn't have a specified amount stated, the plan can be amended to provide a $10,000 threshhold that terminates the interest in all like plans.

Makes we wonder - couldn't you just amend the plan, at least this year, to put in any specified amount? Why the $10,000 limit?

Or, was this supposed to mean that you could amend a pre-409A plan to put in a de minimis amount without making the plan 409A compliant (which the language doesn't support)?