did you enter the contributions as if you made them - they would appear on line 2 of form 8889? that's wrong what happens is your taxable wages (box 1 of W-2) are reduced by the $3K you contributed that's where you get the deduction. coded as 12w, they show up on line 9 of the form which is proper. I am confused about the excess since if you had a family HDHP all year the max is $7300 unless one of you also had non-HDHP or medicare coverage. another possibility is that you didn't check self-only or family coverage under a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) - which makes you ineligible for an HSA contribution.
