I'm assuming you are speaking of the basic safe harbor match where the formula is 100% of 3%, then 50% of the next 2% - The maximum safe harbor match that can be made on a $245k salary is $9,800. This would be true even if his deferrals were being matched per pay period. Because of his high salary, the cap of 100% of 4% would be reached early in the year.
This thread is a few years old but I have a similar situation. I certainly agree that the employee in the example above should have his match capped due to the compensation limit but I am unsure of what it should be capped at. The post above suggests $9800 or 4% of $250k which was the compensation limit at the time, but in the original posted said that the employee contributed less than 3% for the year so should they really get the full 4% match even though they did not contribute the 5% required to get the 4% match (match formula 100% of 1st 3 and 50% of next 2)?
We have that situation now - same match formula as previsous example above. Employee making about $340k contributing 3% annually - $10,200. Match occurs per pay period. Should match be stopped when it hits 3% of annual comp limit or 4% of annual comp limit?
