Retirement tax questions

I can think of at least two reasons why this might happen.

(1) You have two or more W-2s, and the aggregate of the Social Security wages exceeds $132,900, then the sum of the Social Security withheld will be too high because the total that should be withheld should be the tax at $132,900. But because neither employer likely pays you more than $132,900, they don't know any better and are figuring the SS withholding correctly - it's not until you file your tax return that this all gets sorted out. And, yes, in this case, the excess is refunded to you on your tax return (line 11 on Schedule 3 (1040)). 

(2) You may be here working on a visa and are not eligible to participate in the Social Security system. In this case, the employer should not have withheld the taxes for SS, but this process is somewhat arcane and easy for employers to get confused on. Please see https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/social-security-tax-medicare-tax-and-self-em... and see if this might apply to you.

If neither of these options makes sense to you, please come back and tell me the exact message from TurboTax and what page you got it on.

 

[Edited 4/2/2020 4:48 pm CDT - updated for 2019]

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