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 Received compensation from the business of more than $130,000 if the preceding year is 2021 (and more than $135,000 if the year is 2022), and if the employer so chooses, was in the top 20% of employees when ranked by compensation.