Are you getting an Excess SS error message?
There are 2 different situations when it will say Employer may have paid too much Social Security. It's saying either 1 employer took out too much SS -OR- that you paid too much SS because you had more than 1 employer. This should cover both.
If you had more than one employer and the total of box 4 (only box 4 not box 6) on all your 2017 W2s for Social Security is more than $7,886.40 you get the excess back on your tax return. And it is for each spouse separately, not combined. Check 1040 line 71 for it. If only one employer took out more than $7,886.40 you have to get the difference back from that employer and get a corrected W2 form. See IRS publication 17 page 252 <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf">http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf</a>
So check boxes 3 & 4 on your W2. Box 4 should be 6.2% of box 3 up to a max of $7,886.40. So take the amount in box 3 and multiply it by .062. If box 4 is more than that you need to get a corrected W2 from your employer. But also go back and double check your W2 entries, you may have entered box 3 & 4 wrong. A lot of people who have asked this found they did enter an amount wrong.
A sure way to fix this is to delete the W2 and re-enter it. That may clear something out.
Hi, thanks for your response. I'm not getting an error message. I'm trying to determine whether my employer calculated my tax withholding correctly based on my 2017 W-2.
On my W-2:
Box 4 (Social Security Tax Withheld) = 6.2% of Box 1 (gross wages).
Box 4 (Social Security Taxes Withheld) = 13.6% of Box 3 (Social Security Wages
Can you tell me where you got the information in your last paragraph? I am having trouble finding IRS docs that say anything about how box 3 is calculated or whether ss taxes are calculated from gross income.
Better check with your employer. Box 4 should be 6.2% (.062) of box 3 not box 1.
Box 3 x .062 what’s in boxes 3 & 4?
Do you have anything in box 7 or 8 for tips? Here are the instructions for W2
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw2w3.pdf">https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw2w3.pdf</a>