anny9699
New Member

How to report excess deferral (401k over contribution) in 2018 without a 1099R?

I reported excess deferrals in turbo tax based on the instructions here https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4346599-how-to-report-over-contribution-in-401k-for-2017-on-2017-t..., however when turbo tax found out that I over contributed to my 401K last year, it asked me to "report the excess deferral on your 2018 return in the Income section for Retirement Plans and Social Security whether or not you received a Form 1099-R before you file your return". 

Those two instructions are different. Which one should I follow? BTW I won't receive 1099R until 2019.

tomf60
New Member

Retirement tax questions

What I did with this is added the 1099 r so I would be taxed the excess in 2018. I get an e-file error as noted below on the summary w2 sheets only. Just override the numbers so you do not have the over amount. This clears the error. These sheets are just summary sheets and do not get e-filed. The w2 stays the same as originally input with the over contribution which is part of the E-file.
cdjanzen
New Member

Retirement tax questions

Hmmm...that is interesting. So the error is coming up because of a lousy worksheet? How does the W2 stay the same as originally input with the over contribution???

Retirement tax questions

No.  The error comes up because the W-2 box 12 amount exceeds the deferral limit's.    It is correct for TurboTax to flag that as a error (which it is) to alert the taxpayer to a possible data entry error that they can correct, but it should not prevent e-fileing if there was no data input error and there really is an excess on the W-2.  (The worksheet is just where TurboTax stores the W-2 data.)

(W-2's do not get physically sent to the IRS, just the encrypted data from the W-2 gets transmitted to the IRS and most of that data comes from the worksheet.   The TurboTax W-2 "form" that you fill out in the interview is not a W-2 form, just a TurboTax mock up of the form as a data entry screen. Changing the worksheet will probably also change the data sent to the IRS and most likely will cause a data mismatch between what you file and what the employer filed.  Worksheet themselves are not sent to the IRS, but the data that they contain can be.)
**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**
flemiaj
New Member

Retirement tax questions

Has it been confirmed TT will be updating to allow for efiling? I am ready to file and don't want to mail in if efiling is an option.  
mwieneke
New Member

Retirement tax questions

I don't understand the logic behind this issue, TT knows its an over contribution and the corrective action, why prevent efiling?

Retirement tax questions

TurboTax has released a FAQ on this issue - the answer is to print and mail the return.
Excess 401(k) Contribution Preventing e-File

https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/7327357

**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**

Retirement tax questions

Wow, that's pretty big letdown. Might as well file the taxes by myself then.
tomf60
New Member

Retirement tax questions

What I did with this is added the 1099 r so I would be taxed the excess in 2018. I get an e-file error as noted below on the summary w2 sheets only. Just override the numbers so you do not have the over amount. This clears the error. These sheets are just summary sheets and do not get e-filed. The w2 stays the same as originally input with the over contribution which is part of the E-file.

Retirement tax questions

can someone from turbotax confirm this work-around (nice, btw!) if the program does not get updated to fix this issue as planned by 4/5/2019
chenhua00
New Member

Retirement tax questions

How do you override the numbers in the summary w2 sheets only?
chenhua00
New Member

Retirement tax questions

I'm using premier Mac version and the override button is grey for summary w2 sheets.
chenhua00
New Member

Retirement tax questions

I'm using premier Mac version and the override button is grey for summary w2 sheets.
tomf60
New Member

Retirement tax questions

Turbo tax released a new version which longer always you to do this. You have to wait until; 4/5/19 for fix
chenhua00
New Member

Retirement tax questions

I only contributed like $5 over the 2018 401k limit, but my 401k said that it's past their deadline and they can't do anything now. Any advice? It feels stupid just for several bucks (It happened because I switched jobs in 2018).