Too much FICA taxes were withheld in 2020 because of having multiple employers, how can I claim a refund with Turbotax?

[romains]

I worked for 2 different companies which both use the same payroll system, Justworks. Justworks generated only one single W2 for 2020 where it shows the amount of FICA taxes that were withheld in total over the year (which is over the max of $8,500). But Turbotax treats this as one single employer, tells me to reach out to Justworks to get a refund and a W2-c, and does not add the excess to my federal refund. I reached out to Justworks who told me that what they did is correct and I should use form 1040, schedule 3 to apply to receive the credit for overpayment of social security withholdings. How can I do to claim the refund with Turbotax please?

[DavidD66]

Yes, you can get excess Social Security tax refunded.

The procedure depends on whether the excess withholdings were caused by multiple employers exceeding the maximum or too much being withheld by a single employer.

Your employer is supposed to withhold 6.2% of your Social Security Wages (the Box 3 amount on your W-2), up to a maximum of $8,537.40 per taxpayer for tax year 2020.

If one employer withheld too much Social Security tax, you won't be able to take a credit for the excess on your tax return.

You may have worked AT two different companies, but you only had one employer - Justworks.  They should issue you a refund for the excess amount, and a corrected W-2 (also called a W-2c) which shows the correct Box 3 and Box 4 amounts. 

For more information, see the following TurboTax Help article:

Can I get a refund for excess Social Security tax withheld?

[romains]

Thanks @DavidD66 !

I reached out to Justworks but this is their response: "While we did the filings for both companies as a PEO, you still had two worksite employers in 2020, leading to the excess withholding when your wage base reset. In this case, you would have to file an amendment to your taxes to received the refund. While we are listed as the employer on record, we are not your worksite employer, who would be responsible for the refund".

It seems like I should use schedule 3 of Form 1040, which is the solution for multiple employers in the link you shared. But Turbotax does not detect it as "multiple employers" since I have one unique W2 with Justworks' EIN. Do you know how I can tell Turbotax to consider it as "multiple employers" so that they automatically fill out this form for me?

[SteamTrain]

@romains   @DavidD66 

Y'all should read all of this long post from last year, describing the same situation from Justworks and another PEO for a couple of customers, including one who was still trying to get refunded the excess SS over a year later.  I suspect the taxpayers may never get their excess SS refunded, but the effort may take more of a toll in time spent, and absolute frustration, than the refund is worth.

Can TTX solve this situation?...doesn't appear to be able to do so, since  it may be more of a Justworks/IRS issue that TTX has absolutely no way to resolve in software.

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