I have accidentally checked that my wife had an HSA account.

[potrto]

I have accidentally checked that my wife had an HSA account. Later I noticed the mistake - I saw the 8889 form generated for her. However, when I unchecked the HSA account from her (in the "Tell us about the health-related accounts you had in 2018" section), it didn't update the 8889 forms. I tried to go through the reviews and Smart Check again but with no luck. What can I do to correct my mistake?

[BMcCalpin · Accepted solution]

I am not sure that you made a mistake.

For married taxpayers, TurboTax automatically adds an 8889-T for the taxpayer and an 8889-S for the spouse, to use if needed (since the taxpayer shares the HSA contribution limit with the spouse if the HDHP coverage is "Family", it may be needed).

Normally, if the spouse had no HSA, the 8889-S is empty with a few zeroes. If it is still like this when it comes time to file, then TurboTax doesn't bother sending it to the IRS.

However, it is also possible that you answered a question in such a way as to confuse TurboTax.

Did you see a question about "What type of High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) did [spouse] have on December 1, 2018?" (yes, 2018). If you saw this question and answered "Family" or "Self", then TurboTax thought that she had an HSA, so asked you some questions about 2018.

If you didn't see this question above nor got a message about owing money because of the last-month rule, then you're OK.

If there are numbers on the 8889-S, then come back and tell me the line numbers and the amounts in the comments...

[Edited 3/26/2020 8:49 am CDT - updated for 2019]