what is a safe harbor plan 
safe harbor 401 k plans allow sponsors to bypass adp acp and other non discrimination testing in exchange for providing eligible matching or nonelective contributions on behalf of their employees to qualify for safe harbor a company must provide a basic match such as a 100 match on the first 3 of deferred compensation and a 50 match on deferrals of 3 to 5 they may also provide each employee with a nonelective contribution of at least 3 of compensation regardless of how much the employee contributes or if they contribute at all 