Turbo Tax does not seem to understand that only employer contributions and employee contributions made through a cafeteria plan show up on box 12 of the W-2. The software (and the agent I talked to) both assume taxable employee contributions made through payroll will show up in box 12, but according to the current w-2 instructions on
irs.gov, they should not. Somebody should fix the software to match what the IRS form 8889 instructions say, so that other people's taxes don't get miscalculated. The work-around is to put employee payroll contributions no on the W-2 on the line that specifically says "not through your employer", but this will fill the form 8889 out correctly according to the IRS. It's crazy how hard it is to get TurboTax to fix a mistake.
