Defined Contribution Plans

Team members who meet eligibility requirements can participate in a defined contribution 401(k) plan by investing up to 80 percent of their compensation, as limited by statute or regulation. Generally, we match 100 percent of each team member's contribution up to 5 percent of total compensation. Company match contributions are made to funds designated by the participant.

In addition, we maintain a nonqualified, unfunded deferred compensation plan for approximately 2,500 current and retired team members whose participation in our 401(k) plan is limited by statute or regulation. These team members choose from a menu of crediting rate alternatives that are the same as the investment choices in our 401(k) plan, including Target common stock. We credit an additional 2 percent per year to the accounts of all active participants, excluding executive officers, in part to recognize the risks inherent to their participation in this plan. We also maintain a nonqualified, unfunded deferred compensation plan that was frozen during 1996, covering approximately 55 participants, all of whom are no longer at Target. In this plan, deferred compensation earns returns tied to market levels of interest rates plus an additional 6 percent return, with a minimum of 12 percent and a maximum of 20 percent, as determined by the plan's terms. Our total liability under these plans was $497 million and $539 million at January 30, 2016 and January 31, 2015, respectively.

We mitigate some of our risk of offering the nonqualified plans through investing in vehicles, including company-owned life insurance and prepaid forward contracts in our own common stock, that offset a substantial portion of our economic exposure to the returns of these plans. These investment vehicles are general corporate assets and are marked to market with the related gains and losses recognized in the Consolidated Statements of Operations in the period they occur.

There was no change in fair value for contracts indexed to our own common stock recognized in earnings during 2015. The total change in fair value for contracts indexed to our own common stock recognized in earnings was pretax income/(loss) of $11 million and $(5) million in 2014 and 2013, respectively. During 2015 and 2014, we made no investments in prepaid forward contracts in our own common stock. Adjusting our position in these investment vehicles may involve repurchasing shares of Target common stock when settling the forward contracts as described in Note 25. The settlement dates of these instruments are regularly renegotiated with the counterparty.



Prepaid Forward Contracts on Target Common Stock (millions, except per share data)	Number of Shares	Contractual Price Paid per Share		Contractual Fair Value		Total Cash Investment
January 31, 2015	0.5	$	41.11	$	38	$	21
January 30, 2016	0.4	$	41.11	$	32	$	18



Plan Expenses
(millions)	2015		2014			2013
401(k) plan matching contributions expense	$	224	$	220		$	229

Nonqualified deferred compensation plans
Benefits expense ^(a)	5		52			41
Related investment expense (income) ^(b)	15		(45		)	(23		)
Nonqualified plan net expense	$	20	$	7		$	18


^(a)	Includes market-performance credits on accumulated participant account balances and annual crediting for additional benefits earned during the year.


^(b)	Includes investment returns and life-insurance proceeds received from company-owned life insurance policies and other investments used to economically hedge the cost of these plans.