Qualified retirement plans are designed to be used solely for retirement income.
Taxable withdrawals from these plans before age 59.5 are generally assessed an additional 10% “early distribution tax” by the IRS. (The additional tax for SIMPLE IRA plans is 25% in the first two years of participation, and 10% thereafter).
However, there are exceptions to this tax. Most of the exceptions apply to both individual retirement accounts and employer sponsored qualified plans, while a few only apply to IRAs. It may be possible, however, to roll a portion of your company’s retirement plan to an IRA in order to take advantage of those exceptions that only apply to IRA plans.
Clark D. Randall | Credit.com