My wife had HDHP coverage for all of 2021, but when I get to that section, it says "we see [wife] had a break in HDHP coverage during 2021" where can I fix this?

[DaveF1006]

Yes, to correct, please perform the following steps.

1. Go to federal>deductions and credits>
2. medical>HSA, MSA Contributions>stat or revisit
3. Select the HSA that pertains to your wife
4. Continue through the section until you reach a screen that asks was XXX covered by a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) in 2021? Here you will select Yes, XXX was covered by a HDHP during at least one month in 2021.
5. Then a drop down will appear, here you will make a a selection on the type of HDHP coverage. Check to see if you checked I had different plan types at different times during the year. This may be where the discrepancy lies.

[commodoretim]

So, I think that gave me the clue I needed.  There was never an option to select coverage for my wife because our HSA is totally linked to my employer health coverage, so I had selected "none" where it asked if she had a HSA. MSA or Merdicare MSA.  Once I checked he HSA box, it gave me the options you mentioned above.

Thanks

[DaveF1006]

@commodoretim  I have an update to my previous answer that may be of some help. Instead of using the suggestions I posted, it was suggested to me that the following responses may be more appropriate. So when it asks about your wife's HSA, answer these questions in the following manner.

• If you had HDHP coverage for all of 2020 , then enter NONE 
• If you had no HDHP coverage for all of 2020, then enter NONE.
• If you did not have an HSA in 2020, then enter NONE.
• If you had an HSA in 2020 but did not contribute to it for 2020, then enter NONE.

Only taxpayers who had their own HSA in 2020 AND who contributed to their own HSA in 2020 should answer “Family” or “Self” or “None” (which can be the right answer in some cases).

[ Edited 02/17/22|07:34 PM PST]

[commodoretim]

That is how I was set up initially.   HSA selected for myself, none for the wife.  Next page I can select HDHP and family plan for myself, then answer a few more questions.  When I get to the page for my wife, it says coverage has lapsed and the only options I get are 'coverage lapsed due to disability' or 'coverage lapsed for another reason'

When I go back now and select 'none' for the wife, it goes through all of my questions and never asks about her coverage.  

[DaveF1006]

@commodoretim   Try this. 1) not mark your spouse as having an HSA, (2) It’s OK that in the HSA interview, it never asks about your wife (it’s not supposed to), and (3), when you see the “What type of High Deductible Health Plan did [name] have on December 1, 2020?”, answer NONE. 

Let me know if this works.

[RobitZ]

Thanks for these instructions to clear this situation.

I'm surprised that TurboTax 2021 still has this confusing question.

Could the directions in TurboTax be updated to make this clearer, please?

I don't want to be stumped every year. 🙂

[bamkc]

In software development, we call this a bug. I am encountering it 2 months later in the exact same state as the person that asked this question in February. I strongly suggest fixing the bug rather than recommending this nonsensical workaround.

[Bob97]

Yeah, this is pretty bad. I'm seeing this now in 2024 and I still don't understand why it thinks my spouse didn't have coverage. There's no way to fix this and no way around it. And no help screen or anywhere to give feedback on this prompt. Really frustrating...

[AnnetteB6]

Take a closer look at the question on the screen just prior to the one telling you there was a lapse in coverage.

If both you and your spouse are covered under the same family plan, then the person with the HDHP in their name will indicate they had a family plan.  The other person will indicate they had None because the HDHP was not in their name.  

@Bob97 

[Bob97]

Ok, that solved it. Thank you for the quick reply. Much appreciated. The definition of "eligible individual" is confusing (to me at least) and this probably should be a two part question to establish: 1) if I'm "eligible" and then 2) ask about the HDHP. But I appreciate your quick response. I wish I would've asked sooner. I've wasted too much time on this. Thank you again.