ERISA enacted identical provisions, in many instances, in both the Labor Title and in the Internal Revenue Code (e.g., the Code provisions governing their analogues in ERISA's labor title). Similarly, some provisions of the Internal Revenue Code which impose penalty taxes on certain prohibited transactions have analogous provisions in ERISA's labor title.

Although Internal Revenue Service jurisdiction over an employee pension benefit plan is triggered by a plan's attempt to seek tax qualification, and Department of Labor jurisdiction arises when an employee pension or welfare benefit plan is within interstate commerce, only rarely will a plan be tax qualified but not subject to Department of Labor jurisdiction. The converse, however, is not necessarily true; a nonqualified plan, for example would be subject to ERISA's labor title, but not to the Code's qualification rules. Most qualified plans, however, come under the joint jurisdiction of the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor.