Error S3-F1040-144 is specifically referring to the credit for Excess Social Security withholding.
In order to receive a refundable credit for excess social security withholding, you have to have reported at least two Forms W-2. If you had excess withholding from just one employer, you need to ask the employer to refund the excess withholding. If the employer doesn't adjust the overcollection, you can use Form 843, Claim for Refund and Request for Abatement to claim a refund. Attach copies of your Forms W-2, Wage and Tax Statement for the year to Form 843.
See IRS Tax Topic 608 for more information.
If you have this error on your return, revisit the W-2 section in TurboTax. If you are filing a joint return, check to see if you have identified each W-2 correctly as belonging to "self" or "spouse". If a W-2 is mislabeled as belonging to the wrong spouse, TurboTax will see the Social Security withholding as belonging to one person instead of two, even if the correct Social Security numbers are on each W-2. Mislabeling the owner of a W-2 is a common source of this error.
Please also see this TurboTax help article for more information and steps to correct.
If one of your W-2s is for IHSS Medicaid Waiver payments, and you have a zero in Box 1, see this help article for more information.
If the only entry on your W-2 is in Box 12 (there's a blank or a $0 in Box 1), and you want to use the income to qualify for Earned Income Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit, you can enter the W-2 as is.
If the only entry on your W-2 is in Box 12 (there's a blank or a $0 in Box 1) and you don’t want to use the income to qualify for Earned Income Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit, you don’t need to enter the W-2 at all.
We tested the situation with Box 1 being zero earlier in the season when the IHSS help article was being updated. The Box 12 code and related TurboTax steps are new this year. At that time, the steps in the article were working. Please advise if you follow the steps in the article and get a different result.
Thank you.
[Edited 04/01/25| 2:59pm PST]
@henrysf
@dipsys
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