What should I do? Turbo tax says I deferred some of my social security taxes last year, but I did not. Max was deducted.

[susanandluke]

I'm a w-2 employee. I maxed out on soc sec taxes in 2021, but didn't defer any payments - I don't understand why Turbo Tax is saying that I did and that I'll get a w-2c.  In fact, earlier it said I overpaid by about $8.  Is that what it's referring to?

[rjs]

TurboTax is talking about 2020, not 2021. Your employer may have deferred some of the Social Security tax in 2020 and collected the deferred amount in 2021. They had the option to do that. On your 2020 W-2, was your Social Security tax in box 4 less than 6.2% of the Social Security wages in box 3? If so, they should send you a W-2c with the higher amount in box 4. But if you had only one employer in 2020, you don't have to do anything with the W-2c.

[susanandluke]

Thank you, but I had two employers in 2020 and between them I slightly overpaid SS taxes in 2020. My second employer never issued a W-2c, and said they didn't need to.  I have definitely paid in 6.2% in both 2020 and 2021.

[rjs]

Just ignore the message from TurboTax. It doesn't affect your 2021 tax return in any case. If you get a W-2c from either of your 2020 employers, increasing the box 4 amount, you would be entitled to an additional refund of excess Social Security tax withheld. In that case you will probably want to file an amended return for 2020 to get the additional refund. But it doesn't sound like you are going to be getting a W-2c. If you don't get a W-2c you don't have to do anything.

I'm not sure what made TurboTax issue that message. I haven't seen it before.