HSA

[Echo45373]

If I have to withdraw funds because Medicare back dates six months and I have over contributed, do the funds I withdraw and subsquently pay taxes on still count as a contribution?  I ask this because I could make up that witdrawal by contributing to my wife's account.

[Mike9241]

Your contribution is only what you can deduct. Medicare coverage does not work with HSA eligibility, but it is personal coverage. Because HSA accounts are individual trust accounts, if one spouse is insured by Medicare, the other spouse's eligibility to contribute to an HSA account. 

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HSA Eligibility for Spouses of Medicare Enrollees
Because HSA eligibility is determined at the individual
level, an individual’s enrollment in Medicare would not
affect his or her spouse’s eligibility to establish and
contribute funds to his or her spouse’s HSA, even if both
spouses are enrolled in the same non-Medicare plan. For
example, Spouse 1 and Spouse 2 are enrolled in an HSA

eligible HDHP (family coverage) through Spouse 1’s
employer. Spouse 1 is also enrolled in Medicare. Assuming
Spouse 2 is otherwise eligible, Spouse 2 may establish and
contribute to his or her own HSA, which may be outside of
Spouse 1’s employment setting. Spouse 1 may not make
contributions to his or her own account on behalf of Spouse
2.
As with contribution limits generally, the maximum amount
that Spouse 2 can contribute to his or her own HSA is tied
to the type of coverage Spouse 2 was enrolled in during the
tax year (in this instance, family coverage); Spouse 2’s age;
and the months that Spouse 2 was considered eligible.
Spouse 1’s lack of eligibility to contribute to his or her
HSA would not affect the maximum HSA contribution
amount available to Spouse 2, other than the fact that the
couple no longer needs to determine how to split the
maximum contribution amount between the spouses’ HSA

[dmertz]

The amount that you contribute in excess of your own individual contribution limit has no bearing on the amount that your spouse is eligible to contribute.

[Opus 17]

It depends on when this happened.

First of all, you are correct that, although each person's eligibility is determined separately, they are linked.  

Second, if you remove your 2023 contributions by the tax deadline (April 15, 2024), then it is as if you never made them.  That could allow your spouse to contribute more, depending on the type of insurance each of you have.  For example, if you are both covered by a family HDHP, your overall limit is $7750 jointly, plus $1000 individual catch-up contribution.  Suppose you contributed $6000, your spouse would be allowed to contribute up to $3750.  Then, suppose you were only eligible for 3 months in 2023, which makes your limit $1937 (from the family limit) plus $250 (from your catch-up) = $2187.  If you remove the excess of $3813 before April 15, 2024, it will be as if you never made that contribution.  That would make your wife's contribution limit $5813 ($7750 family max minus $1937) plus her $1000 catch-up, equals $6813.

Of course, this assumes your spouse is covered by a family HDHP for the entire year and has no disqualifying  coverage.  If she is covered by a single HDHP, or if you switched from a family HDHP to a single HFHP when you went on Medicare, her limit will be calculated differently. 

If the excess was contributed in 2022, you need to pay a penalty on that, or remove it and pay income tax.  What you do now will not change your spouse's 2023 limit, and it is too late to make a corrective adjustment to 2022 that would allow your spouse to contribute something retroactively.