Married filing separately, husband contributes a family hsa covering wife. does wife need to file form 8889?

[AnnetteB]

Since Health Savings Accounts (HSA) are individual accounts and not jointly owned, if the spouse contributed to a separate HSA or had a distribution from their own HSA, then a Form 8889 would be required.  Otherwise it would not be necessary. 

[dmertz]

In other words, the owner of the HSA is required to report on the owner's tax return (on Form 8889) any contributions made, regardless of who deposited the money in the HSA.

[tonytubby]

Thank you for both of your answers. In my case, my husband contributed a family HSA , so the owner of the HSA is both of us? We are doing married filed separately. So we can both claim the HSA deduction on line 25?

[dmertz]

HSA accounts have only one owner.  Since you are filing separately, the deduction goes only on the HSA owner's tax return.  Since both of you are eligible to contribute to an HSA, for each of you to get a deduction, each of you would have to contribute to separate HSAs.  Together you must still abide by the family contribution limit, splitting the limit between the two of you.

[tonytubby]

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation. It's very helpful.

[michaelkirkland74]

My wife and I file taxes separately.  We live in the same home (not separated, etc.) and have 3 kids.  She claims the kids.

She carries insurance through her work for herself and the kids.  I carry insurance at my work for myself only.

If I have an HSA at work, can I use the funds for the kids even thought I don't claim them on my taxes?

[Critter]

Yes you can. 

[xmasbaby0]

@michaelkirkland74 

This was not what your question was about, but why are you filing separate returns instead of filing a joint return?

If you were legally married at the end of 2018 your filing choices are married filing jointly or married filing separately.

Married Filing Jointly is usually better, even if one spouse had little or no income. When you file a joint return, you and your spouse will get the married filing jointly standard deduction of $24,000 (+$1300 for each spouse 65 or older)  You are eligible for more credits including education credits, earned income credit, child and dependent care credit, and a larger income limit to receive the child tax credit.

If you choose to file married filing separately, both spouses have to file the same way—either you both itemize or you both use standard deduction. Your tax rate will be higher than on a joint return. Some of the special rules for filing separately include: you cannot get earned income credit, education credits, adoption credits, or deductions for student loan interest. A higher percent of your Social Security benefits may be taxable. Your limit for SALT (state and local taxes and sales tax) will be only $5000 per spouse. In many cases you will not be able to take the child and dependent care credit. The amount you can contribute to a retirement account will be affected. If you live in a community property state, you will be required to provide additional information regarding your spouse’s income. ( Community property states:  AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, WI) If  you are using online TurboTax to prepare your returns, you will need to prepare two separate returns and pay twice.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894449-married-filing-jointly-vs-married-filing-separately

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901162-married-filing-separately-in-community-property-states

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894449-is-it-better-for-a-married-couple-to-file-jointly-or-separ...

[michaelkirkland74]

We file separate because I have student loans; therefore, my monthly payment is only based on my income.

[coachrenee22]

I have a similar question:

My husband and I each have our own high deductible self only plans and each our own HSA. Do we need to include each other's HSA information on our Married Filing Separately forms? I only contributed to my HSA and he only contributed to his HSA. Do both forms 8889-T and 8889-S need to be included?

[KatrinaB48]

No, you do not need to include your spouse's information on your married filing separate return and he does not either.

[jtombor]

Many high income taxpayers in California file separate returns to permanently eliminate $10,000 of California tax.    The is the 1% mental health tax assessed on income over $1M.  When you separate returns income is allocated 50/50 in a community property state. For example, let's say a year with $5M of taxable income.  The 1% tax is $40,000 (5M-1M) * 1%.  When you separate the returns each return is allocated $2.5M of taxable income and the 1% tax is $30,000.