There are a number of reasons why you might appear to have an excess contribution when you actually don't. Please read the following:
One of the purposes of the HSA interview is to determine
your annual HSA contribution limit.
As you probably know, the maximum limits in 2017 are:
-
$3,400
- individual with self-coverage
-
$6,750
- individual with family coverage
- If the
HSA owner is 55 or older, then you add $1,000 to these amounts.
However, these limits assume that you were in an HSA
all year. If you left the HSA during the year or started Medicare or had one of
a number of change events, then the limit is reduced.
There are several major culprits for excess
contributions (other than just actually contributing more than the limit).
First, if you did not complete the HSA
interview - that is, go all the way until you are returned to the "Your
Tax Breaks" page - the limit still might be set to zero, causes a
misleading excess contribution message.
There are questions all the way to the end of the interview
that affect the annual contribution limit.
Second, it is not unusual for taxpayers to
accidentally duplicate their contributions by mistakenly entering what they
perceive to be "their" contributions into the second line on the
"Let's enter your HSA contributions" screen (see screenshot below).
Normally, any employee who made contributions to his/her HSA
through a payroll deduction plan has the contributions included in the amount
with code "W" in box 12 on the W-2. This is on the first line on this
screen (above). Don't enter the code W amount anywhere on the return other than
on the W-2 page.
Third, if you weren't in the HSA all 12 months, then
the annual contribution limit is reduced on a per month ratio.
Fourth, if you carried over an excess contribution from 2016, this could result in an excess in 2017 as well.
Fifth, in your case, did you report that you were in an HDHP all year?
