Is A Pension Plan Qualified? 
If the defined benefit or contribution plan is sanctioned under Employee Retirement Income Security Act -LRB- ERISA -RRB- of 1974 , then yes its considered a qualified plan . The private sector generally offers defined contribution plans like 401 -LRB- k -RRB- s that are pretax contributions and tax deferred accumulations . Upon retirement , the distributions are taxable as ordinary income . 