I didn't have a HDHP in 2024 but it won't let me select none

[jag9876]

I have a HSA from 2023. In 2024 I never had a HDHP but form 8889 keeps forcing me to say I had a HDHP in 2024

[LindaS5247]

To qualify to have an HSA, you must be enrolled in a health insurance plan (HDHP) that imposes high deductibles that meet or exceed IRS required amounts.

If you weren't in an HDHP in 2024 and you didn't have an HSA in 2024 and your W-2 did not report that you contributed to your HSA (i.e. you did not have a "w" entered in box 12 of your Form W-2), you can do the following:

1. Click on "Search" in the top right of your TurboTax screen
2. Type "hsa" in the search box
3. Select "Jump to hsa"
4. Your screen will say, "Tell us about health-related accounts you had in 2024"
5. Select "None of the above"
6. Select "Continue"
7. Answer the follow-up screens about your situation

You can delete your Form 8889 from your tax return using the instructions below.

In TurboTax Desktop:

1. Switch to Forms mode by clicking on "Forms" at your upper right corner of your TurboTax screen
2. In your left panel search for "Form 8889"
3. Select the form by clicking on it 
4. In your right panel of your TurboTax screen select "Delete Form"

In TurboTax Online you will:

1. Continue your return
2. In your left panel click on "Tax Tools" and then "Tools"
3. Scroll down to "Delete a form"
4. Select the Form 8889 from your list of forms and
5. Select" Delete"

To search for your HSA entries in TurboTax, you can type "HSA" in your search box. It will look something like this:

Click here for "What Is the IRS Form 8889?"

[jag9876]

While I was not enrolled in a HDHP in 2024 and was not actively contributing to an HSA, I did have an HSA with a balance as I hadn't used all my funds

[BillM223]

jag9876

Did you make any contributions to your HSA (probably not) or did you take distributions from your HSA in 2024 (maybe?)?

If you did either one, then you must add form 8889 to your return. You do that by going through the HSA interview (Deductions and Credits->Medical->1099-SA, HSA, MSA).

Having said that, the process is geared towards taxpayers who have HDHP coverage, so a little dancing is needed for others, like you.

1. IF you did not make any contributions to or take any distributions from your HSA in 2024, then you do NOT have to report on your HSA on your 2024 return. Thus, when you navigate to the HSA interview (the text in bold above), on the first screen where you are asked about what kind of medical accounts you have, enter nothing. That is, don't check off that you have an HSA account. This is how TurboTax avoids asking you all these questions to build the 8889.

2. But if you did make a contribution to or take a distribution from your HSA in 2024, then you have to check off that you have an HSA on the "what kind of medical accounts you have" screen above.

In the interview, you will be asked if you had HDHP coverage for even one month. Here you answer NO.

This is OK until you get in the Review. TurboTax get confused when people enter HSA information but no HDHP information, so in the Review, there is at least one question about, "did you have Family or Self coverage?" Of course, you had neither, but you can't continue until you check one or the other.

The workaround is to answer Self. This is OK because line 3 on the 8889 correctly states that your annual HSA contribution limit was zero so all the numbers on the 8889 are correct.

So in this context, it is OK to say that you had HDHP coverage in 2024, because by answering the question "did you have even one month of HDHP coverage" with NO, it doesn't matter if you have to say Self in the Review to bypass the error checking in the Review.