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This is not an error, but is a shortcoming in the IRS' design of the form, in that it does not have a way to represent the following situation.
If you reported a carryover of excess HSA contributions from the previous year (in the question, "Did you 'overfund' your HSA last year?"), then this amount is carried forward to the current year as a "personal contribution", to try to deduct it in the current year (it was not deducted in the previous year).
The amount of personal contributions should go on line 2 of the 8889. However, line 2 is normally for current year personal contributions, and you may have had none. Prior year personal contributions (i.e. the carryover) don't print on line 2, even though they are part of the calculation.
Thus we have the apparently illogical situation of TurboTax picking line 12 as the smaller amount when line 2 is probably blank. If you compare your carryover amount to line 12, I think that you will find line 12 to be the smaller amount.
This oddity will not affect your return.
This is not an error, but is a shortcoming in the IRS' design of the form, in that it does not have a way to represent the following situation.
If you reported a carryover of excess HSA contributions from the previous year (in the question, "Did you 'overfund' your HSA last year?"), then this amount is carried forward to the current year as a "personal contribution", to try to deduct it in the current year (it was not deducted in the previous year).
The amount of personal contributions should go on line 2 of the 8889. However, line 2 is normally for current year personal contributions, and you may have had none. Prior year personal contributions (i.e. the carryover) don't print on line 2, even though they are part of the calculation.
Thus we have the apparently illogical situation of TurboTax picking line 12 as the smaller amount when line 2 is probably blank. If you compare your carryover amount to line 12, I think that you will find line 12 to be the smaller amount.
This oddity will not affect your return.
Thanks for your quick response. What you say makes perfect sense but I wish they present it in a way its easy to understand on the screen.
Thanks again
How do i get this fixed in the program. I believe it downloaded from my W2 and i also entered. i tried to re-do it several times with no luck. so frustrating. please help
You should go back and remove the hsa contributions that you entered. TurboTax does pull your contributions from Box 12, code W, so you should not re-enter them. Otherwise, you may get an over-contribution message. To fix it, go back through the HSA questions and remove the personal contributions you entered earlier.
If the error is something other than an over-contribution message, reply back and let us know. @Tricia5
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