2 employers - TurboTax says employer should refund social security tax

[Anonymous]

I had 2 employers in 2021. Each of them withheld social security taxes amounting to 6.2% of the SS wage reported on the W-2. The total SS tax withheld exeeds the annual max SS tax. The IRS states that I can claim a credit of the excess withholding when I file my taxes. I would expect Turbotax to handle the forms to get me this credit and in past years, it has.

I'm using Turbotax Deluxe 2021 for Windows (updated when it started today). Turbotax  says that I may be due a refund from my employer (not the IRS) and that I should get the excess refunded and get a corrected W-2c. However, that screen lists only one employer as having withheld the total that BOTH withheld. It shows the "correct withholding amount" which matches what that employer reported on the W-2 (not corrected W-2c). 

The IRS says I should claim a credit on Schedule 3, Line 11. When I use the Forms view in Turbotax, I do not see a Schedule 3. Form 1040, line 20 (Amount from schedule 3, line 8 ) is blank.

Is this a bug in Turbotax 2021? Or does Turbotax add the credit someplace else? I see some other posts from prior years (2018 tax year onward) with similar problems. One person reported that they had to buy the download version last year so they could enter the credit manually on the form for Schedule 3. That may be what I need to do? Or is there a way to get Turbotax to do calculate and enter the credit?

[DMarkM1 · Accepted solution]

TurboTax does calculate the excess social security refund amount for two employers and adds that amount to your credits.  The amount will show up on line 11 of the schedule 3 be included on your form 1040 line 31. 

It appears however, from what you are seeing that the excess has been credited to one employer which is not proper.  You should go back and edit the Form W2 entries. 

Delete both W2s and re-enter the information.  Enter one form and complete all the follow on questions for that W2 before adding the second W2 information.  

[Anonymous]

I went through and checked the W-2s again (after updating Turbotax today). Both my employers had the same employer ID. Once I fixed that, Turbotax computed the correct refund for social-security tax.

I had previously downloaded both W-2s and I beleive the employer ID is required to download, so I don't think I entered the incorrect employer ID.

Anyways, thanks for your help. Glad I got past this.

Kandy

[Schlaman68]

Thank you for this response!  I had the same issue and thought it might be a bug in the program, as well.  I actually ended contacting one of my employers about the refund, per the instructions in TurboTax.  With this suggestion, the amount is now being properly credited.

Great advice!

Mike