Wife contributed through payroll to her HSA. W2 shows nothing in box 12 titled W. Her work says W2 correct, I disagree and wont file. Who's right and what do I do?

[tbar]

Box 1 shows her wages and has been reduced by amount of her HSA contribution, and I believe taxes held out are correct. I don't want to have to amend a return because of a wrong W2, but her work claims they have researched and the W2 is correct. I hate to keep bothering her HR person at her work, but not confident W2 is correct, and this is holding me up from filing. Who is correct and what can I do? Turbo Tax Home and Business shows no error, but it doesn't know about her $6240 in donations.... I've read 2016 IRS publication on basic W2 filing, and it clearly reads to me that there should be a figure in box 12 titled "W".   Help Please!

[ghost]

When an employer takes some of the employee's wages and deposits them to the employee's HSA on a pretax basis, they MUST reduce the employee taxable wages shown in boxes 1, 3 and 5 by the deposit amount AND enter the deposited amount in box 12 using code W. The box 12 amount would also include any money of their own that the company deposited as a benefit.

[ghost]

What explanation does the employer offer that supports their position?
Maybe they did not reduce the wages and simply deposited the funds as after tax.
In that case it would not be pretax and you can enter the $6240 in the program as additional personal contribution to get the tax deduction on F1040, line 25. But it sounds like that's not the way it should have been handled by the employer.

[fanfare]

[removed]

[fanfare]

[removed]

[tbar]

The employer's HR person states that they have talked with their insurance broker, and he said the they fall under a"transition" option due to the affordable health care act. I checked that out and it appears that what they were talking about only dealt with box 12 and the code DD. It stated that some HSA contributions have to be entered on w2 box 12 with a Code W, and to check out the HSA section
I have done all of that, read the 8889 instructions, emailed her my findings, and she has forwarded my email to their insurance broker. I am awaiting an answer from them tomorrow.
To reiterate, her total gross income in box 1 does not include her HSA contributions, nor her 125 cafeteria insurance costs, nor her deferred 403b retirement contributions. Her social security wages, and medicare wages, in boxes 3 and 5 does include her 403b contributions but not HSA or insurance costs.
The only thing in box 12 is Code E elected retirement plan contributions.
I have basically been reading most of the day about this on IRS, and have seen answers that conflict one another. I guess I will wait for her insurance brokers response, unless someone else can explain it to me.

[Lisa995]

Are you sure its an HSA (health savings account) and not an HRA (health reimbursement account)?  HRAs wont be shown on the W2 at all, but you still contribute to it pre-tax.

[tbar]

Yes, definitely  an HSA

[tbar]

I have her form 5498-SA form in front of me from Medica.It shows her total HSA contributions in 2016, and the fair market value. She had to go to Medica and get this, and is the only paper we have "other than her paycheck stub" that shows her HSA contributions. The only other paperwork that came with her w2 was a form 1095-C "Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage" which only basically shows that she was offered insurance, and the minimum cost for said coverage was $0. No other income or numeric figures on the form.

[tbar]

The "insurance broker" that I spoke of earlier is actually a Regulatory Compliance Executive. Here are his exact words to my wife's HR person, in response to these questions:

You do NOT report HSA contributions (made by the employer nor the employee)… it isn’t even optional in that case.  This is also listed on the attached and at <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/form-w-2-reporting-of-employer-sponsored-health-coverage">ht...>.

This is what she is going by, and what I was talking about earlier about box 12 and the Code DD. If you go to the irs link and read more, you will see what I've been talking about, and why it is so confusing!

[ghost]

@tbar there used to be a line entry in TT that allowed you to enter the "employer HSA contribution NOT reported on a W2". It was used specifically for this instance where the employer (for whatever reason) omitted the some or all of the box 12 amount. Since your W2 taxable wages seem to be correct, you can enter the omitted amount directly into the program and it should appear on F8889, line 9 as required for employer pretax contribution.

[ghost]

@tbar here is the TT FAQ on the above.
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2766470-where-do-i-enter-my-hsa-contribution">https://ttlc.intuit....>

[RBBrittain]

Your W-2 should have your total employer and pre-tax employee HSA contributions in Box 12 with Code W. (The IRS page they posted relates only to Code DD, not Code W.) Your HDHP premiums aren't reported separately, only as deductions from Boxes 1, 3 & 5 (and possibly as part of the Code DD amount). If your employer still won't correct your W-2 to include a Code W amount, contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 before filing.

The TT FAQ relates to AFTER-tax HSA contributions, which would deduct your HSA contributions a second time (not allowed since they're already deducted from Box 1). Don't use that box.

[ghost]

@RBBrittain there used to be an option exactly as I described. I'm just not sure if 2016 still has it available.

[RBBrittain]

@rebab Is that option specifically for pre-tax or employer contributions *not* reported with Code W? I still believe the box you're talking about is for after-tax contributions that qualify for a deduction, *not* pre-tax or employer contributions.