Hello. This is the first year I have had a reason to add HSA contributions to my tax forms. It appears that when I enter my 1099-SA information with Turbotax that I am getting a credit/break. All funds were qualified, pre-tax and directly contributed from my paycheck. Can you advise on tax standards/accuracy with this credit? Many thanks.
You might be inadvertently "deducting" it twice. In most cases, your HSA contribution has already been reported in Box 12 of your W-2 with code W: Employer Contributions to Health Savings Account and already excluded this amount from your income reported in box 1.
Despite the misleading name, code W reports both your and your employer's contribution. (A better name would be "Contributions to Health Savings Account" but we have no say in the matter.) So if you put $1,500 in your HSA during 2015, and your employer matched your contribution, your W-2's Box 12 should have the amount of $3,000 with a code W.
Now, if you made HSA contributions not reported on your W-2 (this is uncommon), we'll ask about that when you step through the Medical section. Look for the questions Were HSA contributions made in 2015? or Do you need to make any adjustments to your HSA contribution amount? Answer Yes and we'll open a screen where you can enter that information.
i am self employed, and need to enter my 3350$ 2016 hsa contribution. where do i do that.
You might be inadvertently "deducting" it twice. In most cases, your HSA contribution has already been reported in Box 12 of your W-2 with code W: Employer Contributions to Health Savings Account and already excluded this amount from your income reported in box 1.
Despite the misleading name, code W reports both your and your employer's contribution. (A better name would be "Contributions to Health Savings Account" but we have no say in the matter.) So if you put $1,500 in your HSA during 2015, and your employer matched your contribution, your W-2's Box 12 should have the amount of $3,000 with a code W.
Now, if you made HSA contributions not reported on your W-2 (this is uncommon), we'll ask about that when you step through the Medical section. Look for the questions Were HSA contributions made in 2015? or Do you need to make any adjustments to your HSA contribution amount? Answer Yes and we'll open a screen where you can enter that information.
Under Income the contribution amount is stated under Box 12 "W" and then TurboTax asked me to enter in my 1099-SA HSA contributions as well, designating also that it is tied to a HDHP. It positively affected my refund in that case. Is this an accurate procedure?
Only contributions that you make that are not included in Box 12 "W" should be included in the HSA section. You would not list the same contribution in both places.
"Under Income the contribution amount is stated under Box 12 "W" and then TurboTax asked me to enter in my 1099-SA HSA contributions as well, designating also that it is tied to a HDHP. It positively affected my refund in that case. Is this an accurate procedure?"
Yes, when you entered your W2, the box 12 W amount was added as income thereby increasing your taxable amount (lower refund). After you had acknowledged HDHP insurance, the amount was removed from income and your refund increased. This is a common source of confusion and question about how and why the program behaves this way.