Q. I'd like to know how TT takes into consideration the fact that school systems (and ergo teachers) in 15 states do not pay into SS. So how is this nuance taken into consideration when filing through TT?
A. If boxes 3 & 4 on your W-2 are blank or 0, TT leaves them at 0. Nothing is done about the lack of SS tax, unless you tell TT that you need to calculate it (that's the tricky part).
Q. To this day I believe because it is not filled in and filed to the IRS there is the additional 6.2% levied onto the taxpayer because there is no amount entered when doing the return.
A. It is rare that TT will calculate SS tax, but when it does it will show on line 5 of schedule 2. If you have no Schedule 2 (and most tax payers don't) you have not paid any SS tax with the filing of your tax return.
Q. Even when I enter my wife's W2 first, there is a large tax liability. Her W-4 (not W9) has 0 dependants
A. Sometimes the tax calculation can be complicated (e.g. capital gains or qualified dividends), but for most people, to verify the correctness of your tax calculation, it's a simple matter of looking up the tax in the tax table. Look up the amount on line 11b of form 1040 and verify that the amount on line 12b agrees with the table.
Tax table: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040tt.pdf
