Definition of "Nonqualified plan"
Carla Kelley
Palmer House Properties
Employee benefit plan that does not have the federal tax advantages of a qualified pension plan, in which employers receive a federal tax deduction for contributions paid into the plan on behalf of their employees. For an employer, not having a tax deduction can be a serious disadvantage, but a nonqualified plan has these advantages:
- otherwise discriminatory coverage for some employees is allowed.
- benefits can be allocated to certain employees whom the employer wishes to reward. The result could be that the total cost of the benefits for a particular group of employees may be less under a nonqualified plan than for all employees under a qualified plan.
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