It is saying that form 8889-t: line 12 wks should be blank. Then it says that I must enter excess contributions on line E of Line 9 smart workbook. Help Please!

[njiajohnson]

This is an error that is preventing me from filing. Does anyone know how to surpass this?

[chritz]

I am getting the same message under "Check This Entry".  I really did submit a form last year to withdraw some excess contributions from my HSA, so I think that the value in Line 12 B Smart Wksht is correct, but I don't know how it is supposed to be used anywhere.  This appears to be preventing me from filing, too.  I'm afraid that if I do as instructed below and start over, I will still wind up in the same position, since I really did withdraw excess contributions.  How to proceed?

[svdp88a]

I am getting the same message and cannot file until the error is corrected.  My employer contributed $1020 to an HSA (on W2 in box 12 (code W).  I did not contribute any and I am not in a High Deductible plan.  How do I get out of this endless loop so I can file?

[BMcCalpin · Accepted solution]

These messages do not make sense. The Line 12 worksheet adds up the excess employer contributions less any withdrawals before the tax return due date. If the employer contributions are greater than the annual HSA contribution limit, the line 12 itself should be blank or zero.

Line E of the Line 9 Smart Worksheet refers only to employer contributions that were made to your HSA that were not reported on your W-2 - a fairly rare case.

Since TurboTax is completing this form based on your input, it is difficult to imagine what you entered that caused these messages.

Rather than just guessing, I would encourage you to reset (delete) your HSA information and to start 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. 

[dila1141]

The issue is coming in because the W2 Box 12c has a Code "W" which the W2 defines it as

"Employer contributions (including amounts the employee elected to contribute using a section 125 (cafeteria) plan) to your health savings account. Report on Form 8889, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)."

[rvasquez]

Did anyone figure this out?

Here is my error message. I've deleted the form and w2 and started from scratch but nothing!

Form 8889-T line 12 wks should be blank. Then it says that I must enter excess contributions on line E of Line 9 smart workbook. Help Please!

Line 12 W of my W2 = 1,800 which is what I contributed. I believe it also includes what my job contributed which was $500.

[DaveF1006]

You shouldn't have excess contributions.  When you went through the interview questions, did you enter any additional contributions.  if you answer that question, you should have left bank.  Your initial contribution is already reported in Box 12 with a code W.

[Thomas48375]

I was skeptical to delete and reenter but it did work.  The error went away and I can submit my return.  There is an obvious bug in the software.

Thanks for the help.

[sjgiantsfan]

This doesn't really answer the question.  "You shouldn't have this value", but there those of us who followed the interviews and ended up here.  I tried deleting the W2 and reimporting, and got this error.  I went through the HSA interview again, and got this error.   TurboTax is telling me that corrections need to be on a different worksheet.  But I don't see how to get there before going through the Federal checklist.  But the bigger question is why is TurboTax telling me to correct this line and modify another line insted of just doing it and giving itself a gold star for finding and fixing discrepencies?

I my case I had made excess contributions planning on withdrawing for a procedure that ultimately didn't happen.  During the HSA interview TurboTax suggested that I could disburse funds from the HSA to myself before July 15th, which I did.  Apparently, now the value of the HSA reported no longer matches the actual value on July 15.  Since I've initiated the transfer I feel quite stuck.

[BillM223]

@sjgiantsfan

Could you describe your current situation?

I understand that you made excess contributions and when you got the message from TurboTax, that you withdrew the excess. So far, so good.

"now the value of the HSA reported no longer matches the actual value on July 1" - I don't understand what this is referring to.

Also, are you getting an error message? Is that what brought you here?

[sjgiantsfan]

When I run the Smart Check on my Federal return I'm told there are errors, let's fix them.  I click on Fix, and this is the text of the error.

"Form 8889-T: Line 12 wks, line B should be blank.  There are no Excess Employer Contributions.  Adjustments to employer contributions should be entered on line E of the line 9 Smart Worksheet."

The value shown matches the amount I disbursed to myself at the suggestion of TurboTax, see below.

When I was entering my HSA information TurboTax told me that I had overcontributed and suggested that I could disburse some money back to myself, which I did.  Then later I get this error.  Quite confusing, since I did what was suggested yet TurboTax didn't seem to account for it correctly.  The disbursement has gone through, so I have to make my tax return match.  I'm pretty much at a loss as to how to correct this.

[sjgiantsfan]

Followup.  Is this a bug in the software?  The line that's being called out is "Excess withdrawn after the end of the year" which is exactly what I did.  Is the Smart Check incorrectly flagging this line? 

[BMcCalpin]

The following answer may seem convoluted, but you will fix your problem more quickly if you just follow these instructions. After you got the excess employer contribution message, it appears that you changed something else that caused the excess employer contribution message to no longer be needed (if, for example, you changed/corrected your personal contribution because you realized that that was already included in the employer contribution). After the change, TurboTax no longer believes that you have an excess employer contribution, but as noted below, TurboTax has not forgotten this number.

Really, trust me, the easiest way to fix this is to just delete your HSA information as described below and start over.

*** Line 12B issue ***

Sometimes when you enter an amount into TurboTax, it hangs on to a value even if it doesn't apply any longer, but because of the dynamic nature of the screens, you don't get to see the same screen again to fix it.

Line 12B is the excess HSA contributions withdrawn after the end of the year. This refers to the screen on which you indicated how much excess contributions you agreed to withdraw before the end of the year when TurboTax told you that you had excess contributions.

But if you fix some other entries so that you don't have an excess any longer, TurboTax still has this number and you won't see the same screen again to zero it out.

So the thing to do is to delete all your HSA information and re-enter it.

Please do it this way:

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***

1. 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 ***

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

1. delete form(s) 1099-SA (if one), 8889-T, and 8889-S (if one)
2. go back and re-add your W-2(s), preferably adding them manually
3. return to the HSA interview (Do a Search for hsa and click on the jump-to result)

[sjgiantsfan]

I started over with a new .tax2019 file.  Re-entered everything from the get-go.  Not a big deal, really.  I wanted to get back to the point where TurboTax told me that I had excess contributions and recommended that I withdraw some amount of the excess prior to July 15 2019.  (This is what TurboTax first told me to do, which then caused this error.)  I got to the end of all the Federal interviews.  I was never told that I had excess contribution, so I wasn't told to withdraw the excess.  That's good and bad, but mostly just more confusing.  Was there an excess contribution or not?  In either case, I had already executed the recommended withdrawal of excess contribution, which needs to be reported.

So, rather than fix the first version I started fresh.  The fresh version didn't tell me to withdraw excess, and passes the Smart Check.  I guess I'll go with that, with the known problem that there's a withdrawal from my HSA that's not yet reported.  Even if I'd corrected the first version I'd still be left with this problem, which will have to be solved next year.

Between the time that I'd done the first interview, which generated the recommendation to withdraw excess, and now there have been many updates to the TurboTax program on my computer.

[BMcCalpin]

As you can imagine, it is difficult to diagnose situations on returns that we cannot see. However, your description is consistent with the following sequences of events:

• You entered your original return way back when.
• When you did so, you made an inconsistent entry, like entering payroll contributions made through your employer as "personal" contributions on the "Let's Enter [name]'s HSA contributions" screen (this is a common error).
• In this case, it is a common situation that the taxpayer receives an error message about excess contributions (doesn't allows happen), because it appears to TurboTax that you made excess contributions when in fact you didn't (you just misreported the contributions to TurboTax).
• You indicated that you will agree to withdraw the excess by July 15th.
• When you go through the same tax return again, you don't see the same message. Why? Because TurboTax remembers that you said that you withdrew it the last time. This is an unfortunate consequence of the dynamic nature of the input screens - sometimes it is not possible to get the same screens to come up on the second pass (which is why I encouraged you to just delete all the HSA data and start over).
• Now you say that you started the whole return from scratch, and that this time you did not receive the excess contribution error message. Yes, there have been many software updates, but few in this area of the program so that is not likely the problem.
• Instead, the more likely case, based on the thousands of HSA questions I have answered in the last 4 years, is that you changed your input on the last pass without realizing the impact. If, for example, you made all of your HSA contributions through your employer (code W in box 12 on your W-2) and did not enter any part of this as a "personal" contribution, then the cause of your "excess" (assuming that you actually did not contribute too much) has been eliminated, and your final return is correct.

Assuming that your HSA contributions were not in excess (and you should be able to figure this out on your fingers), then you are right to wonder what to do about the withdrawal of excess contributions  that you have already taken. There are two answers:

First, try this: contact your HSA custodian and report a "mistaken distribution". If they accept this, they will ask you to send them a check for that amount (since they sent it to you, they'll want it back), and they will pretend for their records that thedistribution never happened.

NOTE: the HSA custodian does not have to accept your request, so be nice (grovel, even). This will be the simplest way to deal with this, if you have the money to send back.

NOTE NOTE: you HAVE to do this by October 15th, so call the HSA custodian as quickly as possible. Many HSA custodians have a description for the process and maybe even a form on their website, so go look, but call if you can't find it.

Second, if they won't accept your request to be able to return a mistaken distribution, then see if you can charge the amount of the withdrawal against previous medical expenses paid from your regular accounts (not HSA) since the date of the creation of your HSA. If you take a distribution of $1,000 (for example), and find that you have $1,000 or more in medical expenses incurred since the creation of the HSA, then you can apply the distribution of $1,000 to those previous expenses - you just need to document that and put it in your tax file. Note: these expenses must have been paid for with after-tax dollars; that is, not reimbursed by your insurance nor deducted on Schedule A.

If you can't do this, then you would be required to report the distribution (the HSA custodian will send you a 1099-SA for the distribution if they haven't already) and you will have to indicate that it was not for qualified medical expenses. This will cause the distribution to be added to your income AND create a 20% penalty. Obviously, you are motivated to avoid this.

Since I don't know exactly when you reported the excess contribution nor what the HSA custodian will do in this unusual year, you will likely not see the 1099-SA reporting the withdrawal until early next year. NOTE: if you succeed in getting them to accept a check from you to return the mistaken distribution, then they are required to send out a corrected 1099-SA...except that it would have zero as the distribution which wouldn't make any sense and which TurboTax might not accept. This is just one of those situations which the current IRS procedures just don't cover very well. All you can do is create the tax return as accurately as possible and keep copious notes on why you did what you did in case anyone ever asks...