In the event that you are still under the employment of the company that is paying for your 401(k), you won’t be eligible for cashing out your 401(k) plan. The only exceptions to this would be if the plan, in particular, allows for a 401(k) loan, an in-service withdrawal, or a hardship withdrawal.
One piece of advice would be to avoid taking out a 401(k) loan as much as you can. The cash you have in your 401(k) needs to be given as much time as you can in order to grow. The loan is also required to be paid back with interest, so you’ll just end up losing money in the long run.
If you are no longer under the employment of the companies that sponsor your 401(k) plan, then you are indeed eligible to get the money. You can either cash it out, or you may roll it over through an IRA.
If you choose the rollover instead of the cash-out, then you will not have to pay any penalty or income taxes. Rollovers aren’t taxable transactions – not if you do it correctly. If you roll your 401(k) plan over into another plan, then the IRS does not see this as cashing out.