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Qualified distribution

A qualified distribution is a tax-free, penalty-free withdrawal from a Roth IRA, Roth 401(k) or Roth 403(b) that meets the requirements for avoiding taxes and penalties. Those requirements include being at least 59½ and having a Roth account that’s been open at least five tax years. However, there are exceptions if you are disabled or are using up to $10,000 to buy or renovate your first home.

Qualified domestic trust (QDOT)

If your spouse isn’t a US citizen and your estate is large enough to risk being vulnerable to estate taxes, you can use a qualified domestic trust (QDOT) to allow your spouse to enjoy the benefit of the marital deduction until his or her own death.

In short, the marital deduction means that one spouse can leave the other all of his or her assets free of estate tax. The inherited assets become part of the estate of the surviving spouse, and unless the combined value is less than the exempt amount, estate tax could be due at the death of that spouse.

The difference, with a QDOT, is that at the death of the surviving, non-citizen spouse, the assets in the trust don’t become part of his or her estate, but are taxed as if they were still part of the estate of the first spouse to die.

Income distributions from the trust are subject to income tax alone, but distributions of principal may be subject to estate tax.

Qualified retirement plan

A qualified retirement plan is an employer sponsored plan that meets the requirements established by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the US Congress. Pensions, profit-sharing plans, money purchase plans, cash balance plans, SEP-IRAs, SIMPLEs, and 401(k)s are all examples of qualified plans, though each type works a little differently.

Employers may take a tax deduction for contributions to qualified plans, and in some plans employees may make tax-deferred contributions.

Among the other requirements, a qualified plan must provide for all eligible employees equivalently. That means the plan can't treat highly paid employees more generously than it does less-well paid employees, though one group of employees, such as those within five years of the official retirement age, may receive different treatment than another group.

In contrast, a nonqualified plan may be available to some employees and not others. In some plans, nonqualified contributions are made with after-tax dollars, either by the employer or the employee, although any earnings in the plan are tax deferred. In other plans, future benefits are promised but contributions are not actually deposited in an account established for the employee.

Mandatory federal withdrawal rules that apply to qualified plans do not apply in the same way to nonqualified plans, though nonqualified plans are subject to stringent regulation as well.