Social security calculated incorrectly.

[user17621839383]

Although I used TurboTax and have verified all the entries, after much IRS correspondence, they claim my return  failed to correctly calculate tax on Social Security.  Many, many others here and all over the internet have reported this same problem and claim that it lies within TurboTax.  My TurboTax contact for guaranteed accuracy now instructs me to recheck my SSI statements and entries (for the umpteenth time, and still correct) and get into a dispute with the IRS because TurboTax is right and the IRS is wrong.  If the disagreement is between the IRS and TurboTax why put me in the middle?  Both organizations know this issue exists.

One would believe that tax professionals in both organizations could resolve this and leave the innocent users out of the dispute.  At the same time, the government shuts down and communicating with the IRS is nearly impossible.    

My solution:  Pay the additional taxes the IRS claims I owe.  Search for a more accurate tax filing program for 2025.  Put TurboTax on my not recommended software list.  Spend my time dealing with organizations which are accurate, productive, and helpful for the dollars I give them.     

[VolvoGirl]

Do you have an amount on 1040 line 6b or is it 0? What usually happens is the IRS changed some other income on your return. Like the taxable amount of a 1099R you got or you missed entering some income. Like if a 1099R got entered on the wrong line 1040 line 4 or 5, the IRS would miss it and think you didn’t report it. By increasing your other income it made more of your SS taxable.

You get 0 on 6b if you didn't answer the Foreign question right. Or if the amount on 6b is too low and you are married you answered it wrong for one spouse.

There is a new question this year asking if you lived in a foreign place. People have been answering it wrong or skipping it. Go back through the Social Security entries and check, check for each spouse if married. If the IRS adjusted your return you do not need to amend.

[rjs]

The wording of the IRS notice is misleading, which commonly leads to misunderstanding of the problem. When the IRS says that the taxable Social Security was calculated incorrectly, they mean that it has become incorrect because of other changes in your tax return that affect the taxable amount of Social Security. The calculation on the original tax return was correct, based on the income reported on that tax return. But a change in the amount of income, typically because income was omitted or underreported, requires an increase in the taxable amount of Social Security. So the Social Security amount on the original tax return is no longer correct for the corrected amount of income.

One other possibility, as VolvoGirl pointed out, is that you mistakenly answered Yes to the question that asked whether you live in certain foreign countries. If that's what happened the amount on line 6b of your original Form 1040 would be zero. TurboTax calculated the amount correctly based on your answer, but the result was incorrect because your answer to the question was incorrect.

In both of these cases the IRS says that the taxable Social Security was calculated incorrectly, but that does not really explain the problem. In both cases, the calculation in TurboTax is correct for the information that you entered.