Are contributions to PERA ( Colorado Public Employees' Retirement Assoc) eligible for the Retirement Savings Credit on form 8880?

[krokidis9]

Boxes 12b,c,d of W2 are blank, box 13 is "x" under Retirement Plan.

[RBBrittain]

Do these contributions appear anywhere on your form? You didn't mention Box 12a or Box 14. If it's Box 12 (any lowercase line), what is the UPPERCASE letter in front of it? Also, are these voluntary or required contributions?

[krokidis9]

Contribution amount doesn't appear on W2, but the amount is clearly the difference between box 1 and box 5.  These are required contributions. Box 12a has code DD; employer sponsored health coverage.

[krokidis9]

Box 14 is blank

[Zbucklyo · Accepted solution]

If they are required, rather than voluntary, they are not eligible for the credit.  See the instructions for Form 8880.

[RBBrittain]

@Zbucklyo You're correct, but you jumped in with a comment while I was writing a more comprehensive answer.

These are so-called 414(h)(2) contributions, unique to state and local governments. They are NOT required to be shown on your W-2, but most employers list them in Box 14 to help tax software (including TurboTax) reconcile the difference between Boxes 1, 3 & 5. You may be asked for this amount when you enter your W-2.

If you made additional contributions to PERA's 401(k) and/or 457 plans, those DO qualify for the Retirement Savings Credit because they're voluntary contributions. Those would appear in Box 12 (a, b, c or d) with a letter code other than DD.

[krokidis9]

Thanks so much; this helped tremendously!

[krokidis9]

RBBrittain: Thank you, this is really good to know. No matter how many gov publications and instructions I read I just couldn't get this.