true up vs. matching too much

[K2retire]

QACA plan with a per pay period match of 100% of the first 1% and 50% of the next 5% of pay. Someone miscalculates and deposits too much match for a handful of participants (including 1 HCE). Most of the match percentages are insignificant (3.63% or 3.72%) of annual comp., but a few are in the 5-10% range for the year.

I would expect to correct the excess because it is caused by a failure to follow the terms of the document. I'm being told that because the plan does not provide for a true up, no correction is made when the deposits exceed the expected percentage either.

Thoughts?

[QDROphile]

Mistakes get corrected one way or another, usually the sooner the better but not always. True up is not a correction procedure. Existence or absence of true-up provisions does not speak to a mistaken excess contribution.

[401king]

I've been looking for the answer to this question for a long time. I think what I found is that the excess funds would need to be considered as discretionary contributions and tested, as such. Another correction option that I found that may be allowable is to calculate gains/losses and remove the total from the account as a "forfeiture" of sorts. For what it's worth, we implemented neither of these changes and took the approach of "Let's help them/hope they fix it going forward."