(a)

(1) As used in this chapter, "wages" means all remuneration paid for personal services, including without limitation, commissions, bonuses, cash value of all remuneration paid in any medium other than cash, the value of which shall be estimated and determined in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Director of the Department of Workforce Services, and tips received while performing services which constitute employment and which are included in a written statement furnished to the employer pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 6053(a).

(2) "Wages" does not include:

(A) (i) For the purposes of §§ 11-10-701 -- 11-10-715:

(a) That part of remuneration paid to an individual by an employer with respect to employment during any calendar year beginning after December 31, 2003, and ending December 31, 2009, which exceeds ten thousand dollars ($10,000);

(b) For any calendar year beginning after December 31, 2009, that part of remuneration which exceeds twelve thousand dollars ($12,000); and

(c) For a calendar year beginning after December 31, 2017, that part of remuneration that exceeds ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

(ii) For the purposes of this subsection:

(a) Wages paid within a calendar year by a predecessor employer may be counted as though paid by a successor as defined in §§ 11-10-701 -- 11-10-715; and

(b) The term "employment" includes services constituting employment under any unemployment insurance law of another state;

(B) The amount of any payment, with respect to services made to, or on behalf of, an individual in its employ under a plan or system established by an employing unit which makes provision for its employees, or for its employees and their dependents, including any amount paid by an employing unit for insurance or annuities, or into a fund, to provide for any payment, on account of:

(i) Retirement;

(ii)

(a) Sickness or accident disability, except payments made directly to the employee or his or her dependents.

(b) However, payments made directly to an employee or his or her dependents under a workers' compensation law shall not be considered to be "wages";

(iii) Medical and hospitalization expenses in connection with sickness or accident disability; or

(iv) Death, provided the individual in its employ does not have the:

(a) Option to receive, instead of provision for the death benefit, any part of the payment, or, if the death benefit is insured, any part of the premiums or contributions to premiums paid by his or her employing unit; and

(b) Right, under the provisions of the plan or system or policy of insurance providing for the death benefit, to assign the benefit or to receive cash consideration in lieu of the benefit either upon his or her withdrawal from the plan or system providing for the benefit or upon termination of the plan or system or policy of insurance or of his or her services with the employing unit;

(C) The payment by an employing unit, without deduction from the remuneration of the individual in its employ, of the tax imposed by the Federal Insurance Contributions Act upon an individual in its employ with respect to services performed;

(D) Payments made by an employer under a cafeteria plan, within the meaning of 26 U.S.C. § 125, if the payment would not be treated as wages without regard to the plan and it is reasonable to believe that, if 26 U.S.C. § 125 applied for purposes of this section, 26 U.S.C. § 125 would not treat any wages as constructively received; or

(E) Fees paid to corporate directors.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in regulations prescribed by the director, any third party which makes a sickness or accident disability payment which is defined in this section as wages shall be treated for purposes of this section and §§ 11-10-701 -- 11-10-715 as the employer with respect to the wages.

(c) Nothing in this section, except subdivision (a)(1) of this section, shall exclude from the term "wages":

(1) Any employer contribution under a qualified cash or deferred arrangement, as defined in section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code; or

(2) Any amount treated as an employer contribution under section 414(h)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code.

(d) Any amount deferred under a deferred compensation plan shall be treated as wages when the services for which compensation is deferred are performed.