@BillM223
Thank you. To answer your questions: yes, qualified for HSA for $7100 in 2020. HDHP yes. Both of us age less than 50 and only my husband contributed to HSA in 2020.
As I have listed most info you were asking in my original post:
We didn't contribute anything outside of what's contributed via the employer.
2020 info:
W2 (12W) reported $8416
5498-SA reported $8100
I must have (I can't recall this step) reported both as TurboTax reported an excess contribution of $9416 on form 5329, which is $8416+8100-7100=$9416.
In 2021 I contributed $2600 and my husband contributed $5261, requested to take out $661 of the over contribution. Turbotax is showing we over contributed by $10,077 which is $9416+$661.
The problem is the over contribution of $9416 is not real, at least is not accurate. We truly over contributed $8416-7100=$1316 in 2020 and $661 in 2021.
Question 1: how much excess contribution can we remove?
Question 2: how can we fix the 2020 and 2021 TAX return so Turbo TAX don't show the excess contribution of $10,077 in 2021?
Thank you.
The first thing you will have to do is file an extension. You are doing this because one of the ways to handle an excess contribution has to be done by the due date of the return - as extended. To "fix" the 2021 excess, you will need to withdraw the excess for 2021 by April 18th - but it will be October 17 is you file for an extension (form 4868). This will buy you needed time to do what you need to do.
The second thing you want to do is to amend your 2020 return. Yes, it seems pretty clear that you entered way too much in 2020, creating an artificial excess. See this TurboTax Help screen for information on how to amend 2020.
Based on what you said, your annual HSA contribution limit in 2020 was $7,100. I don't know why you contributed $8,416 but I hope that your husband goes to his payroll person to reduce the payroll deduction since overcontributing this way is an easily avoidable mistake. So this will result in an excess of $1,316. It is too late to withdraw this excess now (it had to be done by the due date of the 2020 return, whenever that was), so on your amended return you will tell TurboTax that you are not withdrawing any of it, so it will carryover to the next year.
When you have a carryover like this, what you "should" do is reduce your contributions for the following year so that the carryover is used up as a sort of personal contribution. E.g., in your case, you should have reduced your 2021 contributions by $1,316, so that this amount could have been included under the 2021 limit.
But that didn't happen. When you do 2021 correctly, you will show an excess of $661 instead. THIS number you CAN withdraw by the due date. Hmpf, it seems like you already have, so when TurboTax asks if you will withdraw the excess by the due date, just say yes. But you can't do your return in TurboTax correctly unless you clear up the artificial carryover first.
The problem is getting TurboTax 2021 to ignore the carryover from 202. YOU MAY BE ABLE TO DO THIS, when you see the question "Did [name] overfund his/her HSA in 2020?" Answer YES but then enter $1,316 and see if that overrides the original huge number. I don't know if it will, but you will be able to tell when TurboTax tells you have an excess of $661. If so, then tell TurboTax you will withdraw the $661 (since you already have), and continue with your 2021 return.
If you can't withdraw the $661 (because there's not enough cash left in the HSA), then you can carry it over to 2022, and you WILL REDUCE YOUR 2022 contributions to be less than the 2022 limit minus $661, so that the 661 will be used up and you will be done with it.
OK, let me stop here and ask if this all makes sense...
