Turbotax “Premier” 2018 has "D - Elective deferrals to 401K" under W2 Box 12, but no way to enter a 2017 contribution noted on 2018 W2 as "D 2017 17,994.00". Suggestions?

[DoninGA]

401(k) elective deferrals  made to a tax deferred retirement account in 2017 or 2018 are not entered on a 2018 tax return.

[ccraigmorris]

Yes they can and must if an allowable prior year contribution is made in the current year, which can, does, and did happen. Read the W2 Box 12 instructions! Suggestions?

[DoninGA]

@dmertz  - Any suggestions?

[DoninGA]

401(k) elective deferrals are not entered on tax return.  The deferrals shown on the W-2 with a code of D can be used for the Saver's Credit (Credit for Qualified Retirement Savings Contributions) if eligible, IRS Form 8880 - https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8880.pdf

[macuser_22]

"D 2017 17,994.00"

The "2017" or "17" just indicates make up contributions for a prior year.   That is required by the IRS for the employer to report, but has nothing do do with the tax return and is just information to you.

Enter it as "D 17994" and leave the "2017" or "17" out - it goes on your W-2 but not on your tax return.

W-2 instructions

If any elective deferrals, salary reduction amounts,

or nonelective contributions under a section
457(b) plan during the year are makeup amounts
under the Uniformed Services Employment and
Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) for a prior
year, you must enter the prior year contributions

separately. Beginning with the earliest year, enter the
code, the year, and the amount. For example, elective
deferrals of $2,250 for 2016 and $1,250 for 2017 under
USERRA under a section 401(k) plan are reported in
box 12 as follows:
D 16 2250.00, D 17 1250.00. A 2018 contribution of
$7,000 does not require a year designation; enter it as D
7000.00. Report the code (and year for prior year
USERRA contributions) to the left of the vertical line in
boxes 12a through 12d.

[ccraigmorris]

Incorrect.  Allowable prior-year 401K contributions must be deducted from total gross income regardless of current year contributions.  But Turbotax "Premier" 2018 precludes that appropriate treatment by lumping together prior- and current-year  401K contributions and erroneously generating incorrect tax liabilities.  Read the 2018 W2 Box 12 instructions very carefully.  Suggestions?

[dmertz]

TurboTax's inability accept the year indication for a make-up contribution under USERRA can occasionally, but rarely cause problems:

1. I don't know that a  make-up elective deferrals for a prior year qualifies for the Retirement Savings Contributions Credit for the current year.  It's unlikely, but possible that entering into TurboTax the make-up contribution for a prior year by omitting the year indication would result in an incorrect calculation of the credit.  (In most cases, though, the individual will also have made a current-year contribution that would already have maxed out the credit, so entry or omission of the make-up contribution would not have any effect on the credit.)
2. If the prior-year elective deferral is entered by omitting the year indication and the amount happens to be the same as the current-year elective deferral, resulting in two identical code D entries, TurboTax will flag it as an erroneous duplicate entry, preventing e-filing.  If the amounts are different, TurboTax will allow 2 code D entries but the W-2 details transmitted with the e-filed tax return will still be incomplete due to the omitted year indication.  If the make-up elective deferral entry is omitted entirely, the W-2 details transmitted with the e-filed tax return will be incomplete.
3. If the individual enters multiple W-2s that have entries for elective deferrals, enters the prior-year elective deferral by omitting the year indication and the total of code D amounts, including amounts that are make-up elective deferrals, TurboTax is likely to flag an excess elective deferral when none actually exists.

The workaround to any of the three issues indicated above would be to omit the prior-year elective deferral entry and mail the tax return with the W-2(s) attached.  If it causes no other problems with the tax return, entering the make-up elective deferral by omitting the year indication would not be expected to cause problems with the IRS since the IRS receives copies of the W-2 prepared by the employer.

Except for any possible effect on the Retirement Savings Contributions Credit, the code D entries have no effect on the calculation of your tax liability.  The code D amounts have already been excluded by your employer from the wages shown in box 1 of your W-2, the the code D amounts entered into TurboTax have no effect on your taxable income (except potentially in the case where TurboTax detects what it thinks is an excess elective deferral).

[ccraigmorris]

Suggestion to just file correctly on paper seems likely at this point, but surely it is a simple slight change to make in Turbotax "Premier" to accomodate such prior-year contributions (also arising from court orders, etc, not just military).  Please carefully read the IRS W2 Box 12 instructions for employees:

Box 12. The following list explains the codes shown in box 12. You may
need this information to complete your tax return. Elective deferrals
(codes D, E, F, and S) and designated Roth contributions (codes AA,
BB, and EE) under all plans are generally limited to a total of $19,000
($13,000 if you only have SIMPLE plans; $22,000 for section 403(b)
plans if you qualify for the 15-year rule explained in Pub. 571). Deferrals
under code G are limited to $19,000. Deferrals under code H are limited
to $7,000.
However, if you were at least age 50 in 2019, your employer may have
allowed an additional deferral of up to $6,000 ($3,000 for section 401(k)
(11) and 408(p) SIMPLE plans). This additional deferral amount is not
subject to the overall limit on elective deferrals. For code G, the limit on
elective deferrals may be higher for the last 3 years before you reach
retirement age. Contact your plan administrator for more information.
Amounts in excess of the overall elective deferral limit must be included
in income. See the instructions for Form 1040.
Note: If a year follows code D through H, S, Y, AA, BB, or EE, you made
a make-up pension contribution for a prior year(s) when you were in
military service. To figure whether you made excess deferrals, consider
these amounts for the year shown, not the current year. If no year is
shown, the contributions are for the current year.
.

[dmertz]

Is TurboTax preventing you from e-filing when you enter the elective deferral for the prior year by omitting the year indication as suggested by macuser_22?  As I indicated above, entering (by omitting the year indication) or omitting the elective deferral for the prior-year is extremely unlikely to affect any calculations on your tax return.

[macuser_22]

As I recall, the IRS e-file 1040 rules schema for the W-2 only has 2 fields - code and amount.  TurboTax only allows 2 fields and the IRS e-file system will only accept 2 fields.

[ccraigmorris]

Thanks to all! Since W-2 Box 1 excludes deferred contributions from gross income, any deferred contributions entered in Box 12 are irrelevant; that's why the IRS efile needs only 2 codes and I get the same results if I omit none, one, or both of my two 401 K contributions (D 2017, D 2018) from Box 12.