When entering one of my W-2’s it informed me that I should contact my employer for a refund due to overcharging for social security tax that was withheld. When I did the math the amount withheld

[jourdyn-scott]

Came out to be correct but their calculations said it should not have withheld any taxes. Why is this so?

[DaveF1006]

According to this turbo Tax link, there may have been two reasons why this may have occurred.

1) You have two or more W-2s, and the aggregate of the Social Security wages exceeds $118,500, then the sum of the Social Security withheld will be too high because the total that should be withheld should be the tax at $118,500. But because neither employer likely pays you more than $118,500, they don't know any better and are figuring the SS withholding correctly - it's not until you file your tax return that this all gets sorted out. And, yes, in this case, the excess is refunded to you on your tax return (line 71 on page 2 of the 1040).

(2) You may be here working on a visa and are not eligible to participate in the Social Security system. In this case, the employer should not have withheld the taxes for SS, but this process is somewhat arcane and easy for employers to get confused on. Please see https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/social-security-tax-medicare-tax-and-self-em... and see if this might apply to you.

If neither of these options makes sense to you, please come back and tell me the exact message from TurboTax and what page you got it on.

[Csgramma]

I saw a response that said one of the reasons might be because I had more than one employer and that the aggragate of the two was over the $118,500 limit, and since neither of the employers individually paid over that amount, the amounts they withheld went above the amount they should have withheld combined.   HOWEVER, I am not any where near the $118,500 limit.   And, both employers DID calculate the SS Tax withheld correctly.    

[SweetieJean]

@Csgramma First check your W-2 data entry (both wages and the Soc Sec withholdings), especially commas and decimals.  Second, if you are filing a Joint return, make sure you did not mark your spouse's W-2 as yours, or vice-versa.