what is deferred compensation 
deferred compensation is part of an employee s regular compensation that is set aside to be paid at a later date usually at retirement in many cases taxes on this income are deferred postponed until it is paid out there are many forms of deferred compensation including retirement plans pension plans and stock option plans there are qualified and non qualified deferred compensation plans while qualified deferred compensation plans are available to many employees non qualified deferred compensation nqdc plans cater mainly to high income earners who want to put away funds for retirement and find the company 401 k plan inadequate for their needs 