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No. The mandatory disaggregation rules under the 410(b) regs say that you disaggregate a plan into 3 plans for coverage testing—one for deferrals, one for match, and one for non-elective (profit sharing). This is why safe harbor non-elective is tested together with profit sharing, for example. The fact that different match formulas apply to different employees will be tested in the ACP test.

The question was related to a "safe harbor match" and a discretionary match. The reason your software is testing both, is because the discretionary match does not meet the ACP safe harbor, if the discretionary match requires 1,000 hours and last day. The safe harbor match gives you a free pass on the ADP test. If your document indicates that the plan is intended to meet the ADP and ACP safe harbors, you need to eliminate the last day and 1,000 hours requirement for the discretionary match. You have to completely separate your coverage testing for the two types of match (since they have different allocation entitlement requirements). You likely need to re-set your specs to ONLY test the discretionary match: if you do not have a formula for the discretionary match that limits the discretionary match to 4% of pay, or matches deferrals >6% of pay, or you have conditions to receive it, since those factors do not meet the ACP safe harbor.

ESOP shares do NOT count for HCE determination.

I believe the answer to the original question is no. 5% owner status for RMD purposes is defined with reference to section 416. 416 says that ownership is attributed under the rules of section 318 when determining who is a 5% owner. Under 318, stock is attributed from a trust to the beneficiaries of the trust, except for stock held by a trust qualified under 401(a).

Ultimately the Partnership that sponsors the Plan is responsible for making the top-heavy contributions. How they make individual partners come up with the money to fund the contributions for employees and partners would likely be governed by the Partnership Agreements.

If you have a copy of the plan document read it very carefully and see if it authorizes the Plan Administrator to do interim valuations at their discretion. Most plans documents allow for it and it is just for that kind of situation. There is a good chance they are all good. But it is very dependent on how the plan document was written before they did the interim valuation. If you search this forum you will find a bunch of threads on this very topic from that time period. That might help you get more background on the topic and the issues people were talking about back as Covid started to hit the markets.