Since I was previously taxed on that amount as income, I am guessing the entry would be a duduction of some sort, but I cannot seem to find the right place.
The answers in the old thread that tagteam referenced are outdated and wrong.
You report the repayment on your tax return for the year that you made the repayment. For example, if you made a repayment in 2023 of benefits that you received in 2022, you do not make any adjustment on your 2022 tax return. You will handle the repayment on your 2023 tax return. For 2022 you enter the full amount shown in box 5 of your 2022 Form SSA-1099, the same as if you had not repaid anything.
You do not enter the repayment separately, and you do not make any adjustment or deduction to the amount in box 5 of your SSA-1099. The repayment will be shown in box 4 of your SSA-1099 for the year that you made the repayment. The net benefits shown in box 5 will be reduced by the repayment amount in box 4, so you do not do anything special. You just enter in TurboTax the net benefit amount from SSA-1099 box 5, as you normally would.
If the repayment was more than the benefits that you received in the year of the repayment, the amount in box 5 will be negative. If the negative amount in box 5 is $3,000 or less you get no tax adjustment for the repayment. That might seem unfair, but that's the law, under the tax reform law that was passed in 2017.
If the negative amount in box 5 is more than $3,000, you will have two options for handling it on your tax return for the year of the repayment. You will be able to either claim an itemized deduction for that amount, or a credit that is determined by a relatively complex recalculation of your taxes for the year that you received the benefits that you later repaid. You would choose whichever option makes your tax lower for the year of the repayment, unless you don't want to bother with the complexities of calculating the credit. The calculations in this situation are very complicated, and TurboTax will not do all the calculations for you. You can read about it in IRS Publication 915. In the 2022 edition look for "Repayments More Than Gross Benefits" on page 15.
Publication 915 refers to the itemized deduction as "Method 1" and the credit as "Method 2."
When you enter your SSA-1099 in TurboTax it will simply ignore the negative amount in box 5. It does not automatically give you either the deduction or the credit. If you use Method 1 it's relatively easy to enter the deduction in the TurboTax interview. But it's an itemized deduction. You will not get any benefit from it unless your total itemized deductions are more than your standard deduction.
You can use Method 2, the credit, with TurboTax, but there are a couple of complications. Method 2 (step 2b) requires recalculating your tax for the earlier year. TurboTax will not do the calculations for you. (You can do it with TurboTax if you have the CD/Download TurboTax software for the year in question, but there is no way to do it in TurboTax Online.) Furthermore, if Method 2 works out better, there is no way to enter the credit in TurboTax Online. The credit can only be entered in forms mode in the CD/Download TurboTax software.
If you have further questions, please tell us in what year you repaid the $25,000, and in what year you received the benefits that you had to repay. If you made the repayment in 2022, also tell us the exact amounts in boxes 3, 4, and 5 of your SSA-1099 for 2022. If you and your wife both made repayments, give all this information separately for each person.
The answers in the old thread that tagteam referenced are outdated and wrong.
You report the repayment on your tax return for the year that you made the repayment. For example, if you made a repayment in 2023 of benefits that you received in 2022, you do not make any adjustment on your 2022 tax return. You will handle the repayment on your 2023 tax return. For 2022 you enter the full amount shown in box 5 of your 2022 Form SSA-1099, the same as if you had not repaid anything.
You do not enter the repayment separately, and you do not make any adjustment or deduction to the amount in box 5 of your SSA-1099. The repayment will be shown in box 4 of your SSA-1099 for the year that you made the repayment. The net benefits shown in box 5 will be reduced by the repayment amount in box 4, so you do not do anything special. You just enter in TurboTax the net benefit amount from SSA-1099 box 5, as you normally would.
If the repayment was more than the benefits that you received in the year of the repayment, the amount in box 5 will be negative. If the negative amount in box 5 is $3,000 or less you get no tax adjustment for the repayment. That might seem unfair, but that's the law, under the tax reform law that was passed in 2017.
If the negative amount in box 5 is more than $3,000, you will have two options for handling it on your tax return for the year of the repayment. You will be able to either claim an itemized deduction for that amount, or a credit that is determined by a relatively complex recalculation of your taxes for the year that you received the benefits that you later repaid. You would choose whichever option makes your tax lower for the year of the repayment, unless you don't want to bother with the complexities of calculating the credit. The calculations in this situation are very complicated, and TurboTax will not do all the calculations for you. You can read about it in IRS Publication 915. In the 2022 edition look for "Repayments More Than Gross Benefits" on page 15.
Publication 915 refers to the itemized deduction as "Method 1" and the credit as "Method 2."
When you enter your SSA-1099 in TurboTax it will simply ignore the negative amount in box 5. It does not automatically give you either the deduction or the credit. If you use Method 1 it's relatively easy to enter the deduction in the TurboTax interview. But it's an itemized deduction. You will not get any benefit from it unless your total itemized deductions are more than your standard deduction.
You can use Method 2, the credit, with TurboTax, but there are a couple of complications. Method 2 (step 2b) requires recalculating your tax for the earlier year. TurboTax will not do the calculations for you. (You can do it with TurboTax if you have the CD/Download TurboTax software for the year in question, but there is no way to do it in TurboTax Online.) Furthermore, if Method 2 works out better, there is no way to enter the credit in TurboTax Online. The credit can only be entered in forms mode in the CD/Download TurboTax software.
If you have further questions, please tell us in what year you repaid the $25,000, and in what year you received the benefits that you had to repay. If you made the repayment in 2022, also tell us the exact amounts in boxes 3, 4, and 5 of your SSA-1099 for 2022. If you and your wife both made repayments, give all this information separately for each person.