"I retired in Dec 2021" Were you covered by the HDHP insurance on December 1, 2021? If so, you were covered for the year.
The IRS permits you to withdraw excess contributions without penalty if you do it before the due date of the return. Evidently you did not do this for tax year 2021. After the due date of 202 (April, 2022), it is too late to withdraw the excess, and a different process starts. The 2021 excess carried over to 2022.
In 2022, the excess was added (invisibly) to Line 2 on the 8889 so that if you had HDHP coverage AND you did not contribute too much, then the excess from 2021 would be used as a personal contribution in 2022. However, I am guessing that this did not happen, and you had an excess contribution in 2022 which carried over to 2023. It sounds like you didn't have HDHP coverage in 2023, because if you had, you would have used up the 2021 excess that was carried over.
In short, I can't figure out what you did here.
So do me a favor, and tell me what you really did.
2021 - what was your HDHP coverage? Type and months? What were your HSA contributions?
2022 - what was your HDHP coverage? Type and months? What were your HSA contributions?
2023 - what was your HDHP coverage? Type and months? What were your HSA contributions?
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