How was excess social security withheld reported on a married/filed joint 2015 tax return if I input the W2 information separately? I received a tax bill today

[SweetieJean]

Did you misidentify the person to which each W-2 belonged? Or maybe you typed some W-2 data incorrectly?

[VolvoGirl]

Are you married and filed Joint?  And you both had W2s?  The IRS is probably right.  They usually are in this case.  You assigned both spouse's W2 to the same person so it looked like that person went over the max. Turbo Tax is a self prepared return and it is your responsibility to check it over before you file.  Then you would have seen the extra amount listed on line 71.

Or another reason could be you entered a code A for box 12.  That can happen by accident if you were entering box 12 for something and picked Code A instead of D etc.

Do you still have copies of all the W2s?  Look at box 4.  Did either of you have more than 1 employer?  You only get excess SS back if one person had more than 1 employer and those employers took out more than the max of  $7,347.00.  So add up your W2 box 4.  Is it more?  Then add up your spouse's W2 box 4.  Is their box 4 more than $7,347.00?

AND if you transferred from 2015 into 2016 (and then from 2016 to 2017)  the W2's will have transferred over wrong again so you might have the same problem.  For 2016 the max is $7,347.00.  So check and see if you have an Excess SS showing up on 1040 line 71 for 2016 and 2017 or you will have the same problem.  
 
THEN for next  year, if you transfer over from 2017 you should delete ALL the W2s and re-enter them from scratch making sure to assign them to the right spouse.

OR It could  be the case that you entered a code wrong for a Box 12 amount on your W-2.  If you used code A instead of the correct code, that error may also have produced excess social security.

To check your entries.  If you used the Online version you would need to download the .tax file from online to open in the Desktop program.  If you look at your W-2 s in the Desktop program, in Form mode, you'll see a line at the very top where the box is checked to show who you chose as the owner of the W-2. That's where the mistake lies. If you choose the wrong person last year it will transfer and will continue to be wrong.

[bobbie18]

i received a notice that that excess SS withheld reported line 70. No carryover error and W2s input correctly. Doing a turbo tax "REVIEW' FOR ALL INFO prior to filing states no errors found.. IF SO WHY AM I GETTING THIS NOTICE. I did not put it in and no duplicate EIN or roll over error. 

[Critter]

Ok... first the IRS is not always correct however they usually are in this matter .... so save a PDF of your return with all the worksheets and review your data ... did you accidentally miss identify any income for you and your spouse ?   Another way to check is by using the Amendment process ... download the taxfile and the program and use it to open the return and review the actual data entry fields ... the program would have warned you to make the corrections before you filed it ...