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The 401(k) plan is a type of employer-sponsored retirement plan named after a section of the United States Internal Revenue Code. A 401(k) plan allows a worker to save for retirement while deferring income taxes on the saved money or earnings until withdrawal. Comparable types of salary-deferral retirement plans include 403(b) plans covering workers in educational institutions, churches, public hospitals, and non-profit organizations and 457 plans which cover employees of state and local governments and certain tax-exempt entities.

As an employee benefit, a 401(k) must be sponsored by an employer, typically a private sector corporation. A self-employed individual can set up a 401(k) plan and, until 1986, a government entity could do so as well. The employer acts as a plan fiduciary and is responsible for creating and designing the plan, as well as selecting and monitoring plan investments. (In practice, nearly all employers outsource all of this work to one or more financial services companies, such as a bank, mutual fund, third party administrator, or insurance company.)

The employee elects to have a portion of his or her wage paid directly, or "deferred", into his or her 401(k) account. In trustee-directed 401(k) plans, the employer appoints trustees who decide how the plan's assets will be invested. In participant-directed plans (the most common option), the employee can select from a number of investment options, usually an assortment of mutual funds that emphasize stocks, bonds, money market investments, or some mix of the above. Many companies' 401(k) plans also offer the option to purchase the company's stock. The employee can generally re-allocate money among these investment choices at any time.

A 401(k) plan is technically a type of profit sharing plan (under the IRS's definition) with a qualified Cash or Deferred Arrangement and differs from a traditional pension plan or defined benefit plan because contributions are voluntary and neither benefits nor contributions are defined. Although profit sharing plans are not pension plans, they and defined contribution plans are both called individual account plans because each participant's benefit is the value of an individual account. (Note: despite the classification, a 401(k) need not involve profit-sharing.)

Defined benefit plans have a definitely determinable benefit amount that usually has a fixed formula, regardless of how the underlying plan assets perform. Defined contribution plans according to Section 414(i) of the IRC have individual accounts. Because plan sponsors want to take advantage of the exemption from the fiduciary duty to diversify plan assets to minimize the risk of large losses by using ERISA Section 404(c), these plans usually provide each worker the ability to control the contents of his account. The account value may fluctuate in value based on the underlying investments. There is a risk that returns may even be negative.

Some companies match employee contributions to some extent, paying extra money into the employee's 401(k) account as an incentive for the employee to save more money for retirement. Alternatively the employer may make profit sharing contributions into the 401(k) plan or just contribute a fixed percentage of wages. These contributions may vest over several years as an inducement to the employee to stay with the employer.

When an employee leaves a job, the 401(k) account generally stays active for the rest of his or her life, though the accounts must begin to be drawn out beginning the April 1st of the calendar after the calendar year of attainment of age 70½ (except that under SBJPA 1996, those still employed can defer). In 2004 some companies started charging a fee to ex-employees who maintained their 401(k) account with that company. Alternatively, when the employee leaves the company, the account can be rolled over into an IRA at an independent financial institution, or if the employee takes a new job at a company that also has a 401(k) or other eligible retirement plan, the employee can "roll over" the account into a new 401(k) account hosted by the new employer.