The IRS requires you to file form 8889 (for the Health Savings Account) if you:
- made a contribution in the current tax year,
- took a distribution in the current tax year, or
- inherited the HSA during the current tax year
If you have a code "W" in box 12 of your W-2, then either your employer contributed to your HSA or you did through payroll deduction. In either case, you are required to file the 8889.
The 5498-SA will show total contributions to the HSA; distributions are shown on the 1099-SA.
Note that you don't receive the 8889 in the mail; instead, TurboTax generates it for you from the W-2 entry as well as from the answers you give in the HSA interview (Federal Taxes->Deductions & Credits->Medical, click on "HSA MSA Contributions").
If you had no contributions and no distributions, then TurboTax would not have known that you had an HSA and wouldn't be asking you about the 8889.
But if you did have contributions or distributions, it's really in your best interests to add the 8889, because until you submit a complete form 8889 (which TurboTax will complete based on your answers in the HSA interview), the IRS assumes that all contributions to and distributions from your HSA are taxable, and they will send you a letter to that effect asking for the completed form or the tax.
Because form 8889 requires form 1040, form 8889 is part of TurboTax Deluxe and higher versions.
If you determine that this was caused by bad input and that you really don't have to file the 8889, do the following to delete the forms:
1. make a copy of your W-2(s) (if you don't have the paper copies)
2. delete your W-2(s) (use the garbage can icon next to the W-2(s) on the Income screen
*** Desktop***
3. go to View (at the top), choose Forms, and select the desired form. Note the Delete Form button at the bottom of the screen.
*** Online ***
3. go to Tax Tools (on the left), and navigate to Tools->Delete a form
4. delete form(s) 1099-SA (if one), 8889-T, and 8889-S (if one)
5. go back and re-add your W-2(s), preferably adding them manually
6. continue with your return.
[Edited 3/17/2020 4:51 pm CDT - made year neutral]
