IRS sent me a letter saying we owe them $2,111 in Excess Social security paid to us from our 2018 return.

[justthetaxplease]

RS sent me a letter saying we owe them $2,111 in Excess Social security paid to us from our 2018 return. I reopened the 2018 return, and TurboTax still notifies that we are owed back excess Social Security. My wife has many employers, and from what I've read, that can cause more SS to be collected. Not sure what to do.

[VolvoGirl]

Did you also have W2s?   The IRS is probably right.  They usually are in this case.  You assigned both spouse's W2 to the same person so it looked like that person went over the max. Or did she alone go over the max?

For 2018.  Do you still have copies of all the W2s?  Look at box 4.  Did either of you have more than 1 employer?  You only get excess SS back if one person had more than 1 employer and those employers took out more than the max of  $7,960.80.  So add up your W2 box 4.  Is it more?  Then add up your spouse's W2 box 4.  Is their box 4 more than $7,960.80?

Or check W2 box 12.  You may have entered Code A by mistake.

[justthetaxplease]

To clarify, TurboTax states we overpaid SS in 2018.

We got a refund of the amount we overpaid.

Now, in 2020 we received a letter stating we owe that money back, plus interest.

Logging back into TurboTax for 2018, it still says we overpaid and are owed back the money.

[justthetaxplease]

@VolvoGirl 

Looking at the return, my wife has 7 W-2 in her name, and I had 1 in my name.

I'll check the box 4's.

[VolvoGirl]

Exactly.  I answered for that.  Did she go over the max?  Add up all of her box 4.  Or did it go over by adding your W2s and her W2s box 4 together?  If one person's box 4 went over the max then send the IRS copies of all the W2s.

[rjs]

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@justthetaxplease wrote:

Logging back into TurboTax for 2018, it still says we overpaid and are owed back the money.

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TurboTax is just showing you your 2018 tax return as it was when you filed it. It does not get updated if the IRS makes changes or corrections.

What do you mean when you say "I reopened the 2018 return" or "logging back into TurboTax for 2018"? The tag on your question indicates that you are using TurboTax Online. You can't open a past-year return in TurboTax Online, and you can't log in to TurboTax for a past year. You can only look at a PDF of the return that you filed. Is that what you did, or do you have the CD/Download TurboTax software for 2018?

[Critter-3]

First download the amendment program .... then you can   Look at the W-2  summary screen and the warning screen that comes up at the end of that section ... review whose W-2s were assigned to ...  the program gave you this warning screen so the data entry error can be corrected before you file ... 

[justthetaxplease]

@VolvoGirl  The combined total of my wife's W-2's for Box4 is less than $7,960.80.   The largest W-2 has a 12. A  $3,527. 

[justthetaxplease]

You can open a past year on-line if you view the return and say you want to amend. Then you can look at all parts of the return. I did that so I could review all the entries for the W-2's.

[Critter-3]

The box 12 has a CODE  A  ??? Very unusual ... add that to the box 4 amount ... now is she over the max amount of $7,960.80?   Is that the mysterious excess $2111 ?    Or is the box 12 really a code AA (more common).   

Now look at your W-2 box 4 amount ... if you indicate it belonged to her and not you  ... if you add this amount to her box 4 amounts  is that the 2111?  

[Critter-3]

Make sure to review the actual W-2 forms to see if you made a data entry error in the program ... sadly it is usually a 99.9% chance this is a date entry error by the user. 

[justthetaxplease]

@VolvoGirl  I think I figured it out. Her company issued her a W-2 in a non-standard format (It is from their HR software). The box is labeled 12A, which would make me think its a 12-Code-A. It's actually Box 12A-Code-DD. 

A: Uncollected social security or RRTA tax on tips reported to your employer

DD: Cost of employer-sponsored health coverage

So, I think this is on me for not reading the form well enough, and them for using a non-standard home-made document.

[Critter-3 · Accepted solution]

Yes ... the W-2 box 12 has 4 parts  ... 12a,b,c,d ... so this was a data entry error and the IRS is correct.  Mystery solved. 

[Anonymous]

you say you got a w-2. by chance did you mistakenly identify it as being your spouse's. 

on the 2018 return is there a schedule 5. if there is, is there an amount on line 72?

what is the total of box 4 on both of your w-2's combined?