Maximum Social Security Tax payment for joint ?

[DYS2]

My husband and I filed our 2021 taxes jointly - he is self employed, I am not.  Last year I switched jobs so received two W2's and paid a total of $13,329 in social security for just my W2's.  Turbotax flagged this as an overpayment of $4,476 and credited it back on our return on Line 11 of Schedule 3.    I just received a letter from the IRS stating there was an error in my return: "We changed the amount claimed as excess social security tax withheld or tier 1 RRTSA withheld on your tax return because you incorrectly calculated the excess amount".  and I now owe that money plus penalties.   Is the IRS correct?  I thought the maximum payment for social security tax for 2021 was $8,853.60 so it seems I did overpay?  May be possibly since my husband is self employed, but then why did Turbotax not catch this?  Any help is appreciated!

[pk]

@DYS2 , yes for 2021 the  tax rate was 6.2% ( employee portion) of a max of 142,800 of wages.   So if you are talking about your own SSA contribution you may have been overpaid on your account.  Note that your husband being self-employed , TurboTax should have produced a schedule-SE  which computes the  SSA and Medicare  ( SECA ) taxes at 15.3% on about 92%  of the net income from self-employment).   Suggest that you go over your return and  all the schedules to make sure that Schedule-SE was correctly accounted for.  That should show whether IRS is correct  ( TurboTax made an error ) or IRS is in error.

It is impossible from your post to know   whom is correct and/or where the error is.  If you need more help   ( i.e. after having gone through your return and not having any clarification ), you will need to provide more details  -- W-2 boxes 3.4. and also schedule-SE figures  ( please no Personally Identifiable Info -- this is a public board) and  one of  us  would gladly work on solving the issue.  Note that time is of the essence -- you have to respond to IRS notices usually within 30 days from the date on the notice ( not when you received) to stop other automatic follow-up notices.

pk

[Mike9241]

your husband's social security taxes on his self-employment income would have no effect on the social security taxes taken out of your wages.  if you got a w-2 from 2 different employers, it's likely that your social security taces were over-withheld for which you properly received credit on your 1040.  in Turbotax are you sure you indicated that both w-2's were for you. by default Trbotax will use the taxpayer. so if you did this is an IRS glitch.

regardless you need to respond timely.

I'll give you 3 options.    you could try calling the IRS but its phone lines are so tied up only a small fraction of those calling get through.

write a letter back with the notice stating that you disagree with the IRS determination.  both w-2's are mine and are from different employers.  the total social security taxes withheld were $xxxx.xx while the maximum that should be withheld for 2021 is $8853.60.  therefore I properly claimed a credit on schedule 3 line 11 in the amount of $xxxx.xx.  please adjust your records accordingly. enclose copies of w-2 

sign and date. mail by a method where you get proof of delivery.

or

The Audit Defense service is provided by TaxResources, Inc., also called TaxAudit.com, in partnership with TurboTax. If you paid for Audit Defense and you received a notice, call TaxResources, Inc. at 877-829-9695, or report your notice on their website at http://intuit.taxaudit.com/. Do not contact the tax agency until you have spoken to TaxResources. They may contact them on your behalf.

[NCperson]

one other idea - go back to your W-2s and review how you entered into TT.

if you changed jobs, the EIN's should be DIFFERENT for each employer as displayed in TT.  If you inadvertantly keyed in the same EIN for both W-2s, then the IRS is going to expect you to get the money back from the employer.  

[DYS2]

Thank you.  I just double and triple checked my entries and I verified that I accurately entered the data from both W2's, as well as EINs, and entered them into Turbotax as mine (vs. accidentally claiming them as my husbands).   Which makes sense why Turbotax flagged the overpayment of the social security tax.  I am inclined to think the IRS is incorrect based on this, but disputing their "correction" seems like a daunting process.  I'm no CPA by any means but believe this is a mistake on their part, and it's a large amount of money as well.  :(

[DYS2]

Much appreciated and this is very helpful.  Unfortunately I did not purchase the audit defense but will definitely next year given this!

 I went back and triple verified that everything I entered into Turbotax from my W2's was accurate and it is,...so I really do believe this is an error on their part.  Your guidance is very much appreciated.  I will be working on that dispute letter this evening.  Thank you again for your advice.