High Deductible Health Plan Lapse in Coverage

[ehartnett]

taxpayer has self HDHP with an HSA, spouse has HDHP for self and dependent, no HSA.  TT says did HDHP coverage lapse in 2022 due to a disability?   There was no lapse in coverage.  I selected Self for taxpayer's coverage and Family for spouse coverage.  How do I change this so it shows no lapse in coverage for spouse?

[BillM223]

Your issue is with the question that asks "What type of High Deductible Health Plan did [name] have on December 1, 2021?"

​​​​​​​Unfortunately, the question does not clarify that it is only for a small group of taxpayers and that all other taxpayers should answer "NONE".

NOTE: each spouse can have an HSA. The use of "you" below refers to whichever spouse's name was in the question above.

This question is trying to determine if you utilized the "last-month" rule in 2021 (yes, 2021). The last-month rule lets you use the full annual HSA contribution limit if you had HDHP coverage on December 1, even if you were not covered by an HDHP for all of the year.

However, the catch is that if you used the last-month rule, the IRS requires that you stay under HDHP coverage for all of the following year (2022).

***NOTE*** This question occurs on the taxpayer who does not have an HSA, so never had a chance to tell TurboTax in the HSA interview what their HDHP coverage was for 2022.

So, the fix is this: go back to the question (at the end of the HSA interview), and:

• If you had HDHP coverage for all of 2021, then enter NONE 
• If you had no HDHP coverage for all of 2021, then enter NONE.
• If you did not have an HSA in 2021, then enter NONE.
• If you had an HSA in 2021 but did not contribute to it in 2021, then enter NONE.

Only taxpayers who had their own HSA in 2021 AND who contributed to their own HSA in 2021 should answer “Family” or “Self” or “None” (which can be the right answer in some cases).