question about W2 box 12a and IRA/Retirement

[rosemariek]

on my W2, under box 12 a, there is the letter S and a number amount. Also, the retirement box (13) is checked off.  I am doing deductions and credits and there's two areas where im a little confused 

Traditional and Roth IRA Contributions (Do i enter the amount of box 12 a here, as the amount listed is what i contributed to a simple IRA through payroll deductions) 

Retirement Savings Contribution Credit (it said I didn't qualify for this)

Please help!!!

[ThomasM125 · Accepted solution]

You just enter your W-2 form, nothing else with regards to your retirement account. If you did your own retirement plan contribution outside of your employer, then you would make and entry for an IRA.

TurboTax will determine automatically if you qualify for a retirement saving contribution credit, based on your income and amount paid into your retirement plan. I appears that you don't qualify this year.

[Joe1316]

So if I had my employer take out a contribution for an IRA and reported to me in box 12a labeled as D, I cannot take it as an IRA deduction?  

[JulieS]

No, if your IRA contribution was listed on your W2, you can't take a deduction for it.

The reason is that any retirement contributions made by your employer on your behalf are taken "pretax". That means the amount contributed is not included in box 1 as taxable wages. If you deducted it again, that would be taking the IRA deduction twice on the same contribution. 

[VolvoGirl]

No.  Code D is for a 401K not an IRA.  They are different things. A 401K comes out of your pay pretax and has already been deducted from the wages in box 1 and you can't deduct them  again.  Only enter it from your W2 nowhere else.

A IRA is a plan outside of work you contribute to on your own.