@Hal_Al , "35HSA" doesn't mean anything in IRS lingo...unless - it would be hard to believe - it is a reference to IRS section 35, which is for the Health Coverage Tax Credit...which, as you know, has little or nothing to do with HSAs. But you might look at Title 26 § 35(e)(1) where qualified health plans for the HCTC are defined (maybe an HDHP can sneak in).
As you know, box 14 is the catch-all for "Other" items that the employer may want to communicate to the employee. Since there are few set codes, the employer is free to make up whatever he/she wants.
If the HSA contributions are definitely pre-tax for your friend, then you can get the contribution to appear on line 9 of the 8889 by going to the screen entitled "Did your employer tell you about any other contributions?" Although the heading implies that this is only for contributions for another year, answer "yes" and you will see three lines appear. The third one is the one you want: "Employer and payroll contributions not reported in Box 12 of your W-2".
Enter your box 14 HSA contribution here. This will appear on line 9 of the 8889.
If the HSA contributions turn out to be after-tax, then you have to enter them on the "Let's enter your HSA contributions" screen, where you enter it on the second line as a "personal" contribution.
I am curious - how did you tell from the pay stubs that your friend's HSA contributions were pre-tax? Since HSA contributions are removed from Wages in boxes 1, 3, and 5, it's not immediately obvious that this was done, as compared to, say, a 401(k) contribution that is removed from box 1 but not boxes 3 and 5.
I recall from last year that there were still employers listing the HSA contributions as part of a cafeteria plan, listing the HSA in box 14 but not removing the contributions from Wages.
