There is no line 9b on Schedule 1 (Form 1040). What are you referring to?
When you enter the code W amount on your W-2, the contribution is considered taxable by the IRS until you show that you have the proper HDHP (High Deductible Health Plan) coverage in the HSA interview.
At the point that the code W is entered, then the contribution is added to line 21 of Schedule 1 as Other Income.
It will stay on line 21 until you enter the HSA interview and show that you have the proper HDHP coverage - then the amount will be removed from line 21.
The code W amount will also be added to line 21 on Schedule 1 if this amount is judged to be "excess contributions". That is because the code W has already been removed from Wages in boxes 1, 3, and 5 on your W-2, so if the amount is excess, then the code W amount has to be added back to income so that you don't get an undeserved tax benefit from it. You would know this when you get the excess contribution error message while in the HSA interview.
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The critical thing is whether or not the code W amount is still on line 21 after you have finished the HSA interview.
If this is the case and you do not believe that you made excess contirbutions, then please read the following (apologies for the length) list to see if one of these situations applies to you.
One of the purposes of the HSA interview is to determine your annual HSA contribution limit.
As you probably know, the maximum limits in 2018 are:
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$3,450 - individual with self-coverage
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$6,900 - individual with family coverage
- If the HSA owner is 55 or older, then you add $1,000 to these amounts.
However, these limits assume that you were in an HSA all year. If you left the HSA during the year or started Medicare or had one of a number of change events, then the limit is reduced.
There are several major culprits for excess contributions (other than just actually contributing more than the limit).
First, if you did not complete the HSA interview - that is, go all the way until you are returned to the "Your Tax Breaks" page - the limit still might be set to zero, causes a misleading excess contribution message.
There are questions all the way to the end of the interview that affect the annual contribution limit.
Second, it is not unusual for taxpayers to accidentally duplicate their contributions by mistakenly entering what they perceive to be "their" contributions into the second line on the "Let's enter your HSA contributions" screen (see screenshot below).
Normally, any employee who made contributions to his/her HSA through a payroll deduction plan has the contributions included in the amount with code "W" in box 12 on the W-2. This is on the first line on this screen (above). Don't enter the code W amount anywhere on the return other than on the W-2 page.
Third, if you weren't in HDHP coverage all 12 months, then the annual contribution limit is reduced on a per month ratio. NOTE, this means that you have to indicate when and under what type of HDHP plan you had. Be sure to answer the questions on the screen entitled "Was [name] covered by a High Deductible Health Plan in 2018?" (see screenshot below).
Fourth
, if you had a carryover of excess contributions from 2017, then this carryover is applied to 2018 as a personal contribution, which could cause an excess condition in 2018 as well. But note: if you had an excess contribution in 2017 but cured it by withdrawing the excess in early 2018, then do NOT report an "overfunding" on your 2018 return.
Fifth, the Family limit ($6,900) is for the aggregate of contributions by both taxpayers, even if both taxpayers have their own HSAs. That is, one taxpayer can’t contribute $6,900 to his/her HSA and the other contribute $3,450 to the other HSA – the $6,900 limit applies to the aggregate of all HSA contributions credited to the family (in this case, the excess contributions would be $3,450).
