Retirement tax questions

Of course it's taxable income.  The question was, does it count as "compensation" that would allow a person to make a contribution to a Roth IRA.

 

The answer is in black and white in IRS Publication 590A, table 1-1.  Deferred compensation is not "compensation" for purposes of making IRA contributions.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590a.pdf