NON-QUALIFIED PLANS

Any type of tax-deferred, employer-sponsored retirement plan that falls outside of employee retirement income security act (ERISA) guidelines is considered non-qualified. Such plans are designed to meet specialized retirement needs for key executives and other select employees, and are also exempt from the discriminatory and top-heavy testing to which qualified plans are subject.

The contributions made to these plans are usually non-deductible to the employer, and are usually taxable to the employee. However, they allow employees to defer taxes until retirement, when they are presumably in a lower tax bracket. Non-qualified plans are often used to provide specialized forms of compensation to key executives or employees in lieu of making them partners or part-owners in the company or corporation.

Access Retirement Services handles deferred compensation plans in this category.