@mpodkolzin You have not mentioned what tax year this is for. The first thing you need to do is check and see if you entered all of the W-2's under only one name on a joint return. If you did that it could cause you to get an artificially high refund and now the IRS wants it back.
When you enter all of the W-2 income under only one name on a joint return. The IRS refunds the “excess” Social Security. Now they have matched your W-2’s to the return and they want that money back.
You should always save your own W-2’s for your records—now you need to look at them to check. Look at your W-2 Box 4 What does it say? Is it more than the maximum for the tax year?
2016 Maximum $7347 2017 Maximum $7886 2018 $7960.80
2019 $8239.80 2020 $8537.40
Check the worksheets from your tax return to see if you entered all of the W-2 income for both spouses under only one of the names on a joint return. That is the most common reason for this problem. Unfortunately, it is user error. As you prepare your return, several screens alert you to it.
And if you did in fact make the mistake of entering all of the income for your W-2’s under only one spouse’s name, you may have made that same mistake on the next year’s tax return if you transferred all your data over from the past year to the next. Check to see—before you get another IRS letter.
On your 2020 return if you had excess Social Security i flows from Schedule 3 to line 31 of your Form 1040
**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
