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The Daily Insight

What requirements need to be met in order to be classified as a highly compensated employee?

Author

Andrew Ramirez

Published Apr 08, 2026

The employee must earn $100,000 or more per year, including at least a $455 weekly salary. The employee must primarily perform office or non-manual work. The employee must regularly perform at least one of the exempt duties of an exempt executive, administrative, or professional employee.

What is the difference between a key employee and a highly compensated employee?

If plan sponsor chooses, a highly compensated employee may also be defined as any employee whose pay is in the top 20% of compensation for that company. A Key Employee is defined as an employee who at any time during the immediately preceding plan years was: A 5% owner (owning more then 5% of the business), OR.

What is the highly compensated employee limit?

Who Is a Highly Compensated Employee? The IRS defines a highly compensated employee as someone who meets either of the two following criteria: Received $130,000 or more in compensation from the employer that sponsors his or her 401(k) plan in the previous year.

What is considered highly compensated employee?

A highly compensated employee is defined as an employee that owns more than 5% of the interest in a business at any time during the year or the preceding year.

What is the 401k limit for highly compensated employees?

Highly compensated employees (HCEs) can contribute no more than 2% more of their salary to their 401(k) than the average non-highly compensated employee contribution. That means if the average non-HCE employee is contributing 5% of their salary, an HCE can contribute a maximum of 7% of their salary.

What makes a highly compensated employee?

A highly compensated employee (HCE) is, according to the Internal Revenue Service, anyone who has done one of the following: Owned more than 5% of the interest in a business at any time during the year or the preceding year, regardless of how much compensation that person earned or received.

What is a highly compensated employee?

What salary is considered highly compensated?

The IRS defines a highly compensated employee as someone who meets either of the two following criteria: Received $130,000 or more in compensation from the employer that sponsors his or her 401(k) plan in the previous year.

What is considered highly compensated for 2020?

For the 2020 plan year, an employee who earns more than $125,000 in 2019 is an HCE. For the 2021 plan year, an employee who earns more than $130,000 in 2020 is an HCE.