IRS Publication 590-A page 11 lower left states: "Defined contribution plan. Generally, you are covered by a defined contribution plan for a tax year if amounts are contributed or allocated to your account for the plan year that ends with or within that tax year." My wife's W-2 has box 13 retirement plan checked, though she doesn't have an account, nor knew her employer had a plan, to which it does not contribute. So she not only has no account, she had no amounts contributed or allocated to her account (because she has no account). TurboTax should allow for a taxpayer to override whether she can contribute to a traditional IRA with the deduction at the higher income limits, whereas right now TurboTax tells me she is covered because of the checked box. I called the IRS and the rep with whom I spoke agreed that the employer should not have checked the box, and if the employer is stubborn and will not correct the W-2, then I can show an auditor the text I quoted above supporting that she is not covered by an employer retirement plan. Your thoughts?
