Errors on Form 8889-S

[chingchen58]

My status is married filing separately.
Smart Check found errors on Form 8889-S (Health Savings Account), Line 3A, with the following message “Family should not be checked. You indicated on the Federal Information Wks that spouse could be claimed as a dependent of another, which makes spouse ineligible.”
But, in Federal Information Wks, under “Can spouse be claimed as dependent of another person (such as parent)?”, I have already selected “no”. So, I am not sure why Smart Check found these as errors on Form 8889-S. I tried selecting Self-Only instead of Family, but the errors remain the same.
How can I fix the problem? Thanks!

[JamesG1]

I think the status of your spouse may not be entered correctly.  Please follow these directions.

• Down the left side of the screen, click My Info.
• To the right of Marital status, click Edit.
• At the screen Let’s confirm your marital status, click Married.
• Which marital status is the right choice for me?, click No filing separately.
• At the screen Let’s see if these apply, click Continue.
• At the screen We just need a few more details about xxx, at the questions Can anybody else claim xxx, you clicked Yes.

Is this correct?  It sounds like that it is not correct.

[saralspencer]

I am getting the same error.  I have done what you have said several times.  I am almost to the point of clearing the entire worksheet and starting over which is TWO days worth of work.   Please let me know if there is something else I can do.  I will wait another day before I file.  I have already paid for the services of TurboTax.

Thank you!

[BillM223 · Accepted solution]

@chingchen58

@saralspencer

Is it possible that you two entered the spouse's data first BEFORE you marked that you would be filing married separately?

Once you change the filing status to MFS, it should not even be possible to mark 3a as "Family" on the 8889-S, because your spouse's HSA questions will not even appear.

First, have you tried to delete Form 8889-S? Online, you click on Tax Tools on the left, then Tools underneath it, then Delete a Form in the center. If you have the CD/download software, go to Forms (upper right), on the left column look for 8889-s, click on it, then click on the Delete Form button at the bottom of the form viewer.

If that doesn't work, I suggest deleting your spouse and re-adding him/her.

[chingchen58]

@BillM223  you were correct. I did Married File Jointly vs Married Filed Separately comparison. I started with Married File Jointly first, and saved the file. Then, I used save-as twice to generate two new files for Filing Separately for me and my wife. I thought in this way, it would save me from entering the data twice; I just needed to delete the extra data that belongs to either me or my wife. 

But, it is issue like this (didn't know the extra data exist or where to delete) made me wondering if I would have been better off starting from scratch for Filing Separately. Any comment or suggestion on the best practice for filing jointly vs separately comparison process? thanks again!

[BillM223]

@chingchen58

To be honest, I live in a community property state where filing Married Separately is almost never a good idea, so I lack practice with it.

Your Save As twice sounds reasonable (did TurboTax suggest that?) but it means that these occasional hiccups may happen.

Have you tried the minimal deleting yet? (first the 8889-S and then the spouse)

[chingchen58]

@BillM223 Error message for form 8889-S, line 3A, "Family should not be selected", wasn't really helpful to me. I tried selecting "Self-only" instead, and that didn't work either. "None" for covered by Medicare was obviously incorrect, so I posted the question. I finally just toggled off line 3A, and that got ride of the error, and the result looks correct. Yay, thanks! Next year, if I need to do the filing comparison again, I will delete the HSA data and re-enter.

[saralspencer]

I have tried so many people's idea's and none have worked.  THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR FIXING THIS!! I really did not want to clear and start over!!

I did the exact same thing the other person did.  I started with 'Married filing separate' then went back and did 'Married filing together'.  It said that filing separately was going to save us $230, so I went back in to change everything back and this is when the issue occurred, so thank you again so very much!!!!

You are correct, this is something TurboTax needs to look at on the programming side.  

Stay Safe!

[saralspencer]

I see my applause did not go directly to the member, so here is the suggestion that worked for me.

First, have you tried to delete Form 8889-S? Online, you click on Tax Tools on the left, then Toolsunderneath it, then Delete a Form in the center. If you have the CD/download software, go to Forms (upper right), on the left column look for 8889-s, click on it, then click on the Delete Form button at the bottom of the form viewer.

Good luck everyone!

[JG2222]

It is now 2022 and I am having the same problem where I get an error message regarding my spouse as a dependent -- however I am not married. I have never been married and have used TT for over 20 years. I have checked my filing information multiple times and it is correct, I have don the interview multiple times and the information is accurate. However, the interview information is transferred correctly, but the error message keeps coming up. 

Fix this bug.

[DaraLO]

Can you tell us the exact error message you're receiving?  Also, please let us know if you're using TurboTax Online or the CD/Download software.

@JG2222 

[JG2222]

Thank you for responding. I am using Turbo tax deluxe for Mac OS, on disc, it is for Form 8889-T, HSA. The error message came up on the section of the program, in easy step: let’s “review your taxes for errors” and said there were errors in the Line 3 Part A worksheet, which calculates your contribution by month. I had Medicare for part of the year and a high deductible health plan for the rest. I used the east step interview to fill out the form. It collected all the information and gave me the correct HSA contribution adjusted for my age (over 55). However, the program reported an error for all the months I reported self only insurance, saying I had an ineligible spouse. That didn’t make sense, After updating the software and deleting the form multiple times and reentering the information through the interview the program I stopped having this error.

however, the information on the worksheet is still erroneous and does not match the information and calculations from easy step . I have downloaded the instructions from the IRS, and they indicate that for Line 3 Part A worksheet for each month that I was covered by a high deductible plan, I should enter $4650, the program automatically enters $3650. I cannot change this. So it comes up with an inaccurate contribution. However, it transferred the correct amount from easy step, so those numbers don’t match.

thank you for your assistance.

[BrittanyS]

We can look into what's happening with the calculation.  It would be helpful to have a TurboTax Token file to allow us to see this issue.

You can send us a “diagnostic” file with your “numbers” but not your personal information.  If you would like to do this, here are the instructions for TurboTax Online: 

Go to the black panel on the left side of your program and select Tax Tools. 

1. Then select Tools below Tax Tools.
2. A window will pop up which says Tools Center.  
3. On this screen, select Share my file with Agent.
4. You will see a message explaining what the diagnostic copy is.  Click okay through this screen, and you will get a Token number.
5. Reply to this thread with your Token number. This will allow us to open a copy of your return without seeing any personal information.

Here are the instructions for TurboTax Desktop:

1. Click Online
2. Click Send Tax File to Agent
3. Click Send on the prompt "Send a Diagnostic Copy of Your Return to an Agent."
4. You will receive a token number; reply to this thread with your Token number. This will allow us to open a copy of your return without seeing any personal information.

Once we receive the token, please reply to this thread with the token so we can see what is going on and provide a solution.

[JG2222]

Thank you for your offer of assistance. However, the instructions for desktop don't seem to fit. I have the Mac desktop version and am using Monterey. I do not have an "Online" tab. I can click on "Continue this return online", but then I just get an error message. If you could provide futher instructions I could provide you the diagnostic information. 

[BillM223]

"they indicate that for Line 3 Part A worksheet for each month that I was covered by a high deductible plan, I should enter $4650,"

Are you referring to the worksheet in the IRS instructions or on the 8889-T form in TurboTax Forms mode? I agree that the IRS instructions say that, but the TurboTax worksheet for line 3 on the form 8889-T doesn't work the same way (since this "worksheet" doesn't appear on the actual 8889 that is filed, this is OK, so long at the final numbers on the form are correct).

It is likely that this situation is rooted in the confusing IRS instructions that add the $1,000 in some situations on line 3 and in other situations on line 7. It's also not impossible that the instructions changed over time.

But, again, as I say, if the final numbers on the actual form are correct, you are OK.