Deferrals made in December, but 401k Provisions not yet effective

[jkharvey]

New plan put into place late in 2015 (november) with 401k provisions effective starting 1/1/2016. The owners deferred in 2015. is there a way to return the deferrals since that provision was not yet effective? I don't like simply doing that since it involves HCEs.

We are still trying to determine if any of the NHCEs were given an opportunity to defer during the last month of 2015, but declined.

[K2retire]

If the deferral provision was not yet effective, I don't think you have any choice but to refund them.