High Deductible Health Plan Eligible Individual

[ES24FAN]

My wife has been under my insurance through my employer for several years.  I am asked in TurboTax, "What type of High Deductible Health Plan did my wife have on December 1, 2018?

If she had HDHP coverage on December 1, 2018, but failed to be an eligible individual for other reasons, select None."

My options to select are Family, Individual, and None. 

I am not sure which to select.  If I select Family I am prompted that "We see that she had a break in her coverage during 2019.  Let us know if it was due to disability."

 There was no break in her coverage for several years.  She has always been under my plan so I am confused if I should select None for the first HDHP coverage on December 1, 2018 question.

Thanks for any advice on this subject.

[DianeC958 · Accepted solution]

The type of High Deductible Health plan is none since your wife is covered by health insurance from your work.

[ES24FAN]

Thank you!

[rlw58]

I have the same issue. My wife and I are both covered by the federal health exchange.  We haven't had any disruptions in coverage.  I selected 'family' for me, for her should I select 'none' to avoid the disruption in health coverage question?  That seems counter-intuitive. 

[BillM223]

@rlw58

Note: your Marketplace insurance may or may not be a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP); you will need to ask your insurer to find out if it is or not (although usually, HDHPs say so on the insurance card).

If neither of you had HDHP coverage in 2018, then both of you should answer NONE to the following question.

Your issue is with the question that asks "What type of High Deductible Health Plan did [name] have on December 1, 2018?"

Unfortunately, the question does not clarify that it is only for a small group of taxpayers and that all other taxpayers should answer "NONE".

NOTE: each spouse can have an HSA. The use of "you" below refers to whichever spouse's name was in the question above.

This question is trying to determine if you utilized the "last-month" rule in 2018 (yes, 2018). The last-month rule lets you use the full annual HSA contribution limit if you had HDHP coverage on December 1, even if you were not covered by an HDHP for all of the year.

However, the catch is that if you used the last-month rule, the IRS requires that you stay under HDHP coverage for all of the following year (2019).

***NOTE*** This question occurs on the taxpayer who does not have an HSA, so never had a chance to tell TurboTax n the HSA interview what their HDHP coverage was for 2019.

So, the fix is this: go back to the question (at the end of the HSA interview), and:

• If you had HDHP coverage for all of 2018 , then enter NONE 
• If you had no HDHP coverage for all of 2018, then enter NONE.
• If you did not have an HSA in 2018, then enter NONE.
• If you had an HSA in 2018 but did not contribute to it in 2018, then enter NONE.

Only taxpayers who had their own HSA in 2018 AND who contributed to their own HSA in 2018 should answer “Family” or “Self” or “None” (which can be the right answer in some cases).

[LanceMiller]

Thanks!

[wjrash]

I have the same issue, but the software won't let me get back to the relevant question to change my answer. How do I start over and enter "none"?

[BillM223]

The dynamic nature of the screens in TurboTax sometimes makes it difficult to get back to where you were.

In your case, you may be better served by deleting your HSA information and starting over.

Please do the following:

1. make a copy of your W-2(s) (if you don't have the paper copies)

2. delete your W-2(s) (use the garbage can icon next to the W-2(s) on the Income screen

*** Desktop***

3. go to View (at the top), choose Forms, and select the desired form. Note the Delete Form button at the bottom of the screen.

*** Online ***

3. go to Tax Tools (on the left), and navigate to Tools->Delete a form

4. delete form(s) 1099-SA (if one), 8889-T, and 8889-S (if one)

5. go back and re-add your W-2(s), preferably adding them manually

6. go back and redo the entire HSA interview.