IHSS income: $0 reported in box 1 W-2 but how to get refund on FICA taxes withheld?

[andtea]

Hi, I got a W-2 for my IHSS caregiving work where box 1 and 16 correctly report $0 income. There is some guidance here to not include the W-2 at all in my tax return, but how do I get a refund of the FICA withholding in that case? Specifically, my total household income is well in excess of the $132k ceiling for SS tax, so I should be getting a refund for some of the SS withheld from my IHSS pay. I can't find where to report that correctly, given:

1. Can't enter in the entire W-2 because TT doesn't let you e-file with a $0 box 1 W-2. So have to exclude the entire W-2.

2. "Withholding not reported elsewhere" section doesn't give an option to identify the withholding as FICA - seems to only allow fed/state/local taxes withheld.

Thanks!

[MaryK4]

You cannot get a refund of the FICA taxes.  The Difficulty-of-Care taxes are exempt from income tax, but unfortunately you still have to pay the employment taxes.  You can delete the W2 entry.

[VolvoGirl]

Don't know how you enter it with a 0 in box 1 but you are right. You need to enter it so you can get a refund of excess SS in box 4.  

But you said your household income is over the 132k.  Is just your income over 132k?  Excess SS is per person, not total joint income.  If you had more than one employer and  the total of box 4 (only box 4 not box 6) on all your 2019 W2s  for Social Security is more than $8,239.80 you get the excess back on your tax return.  And it is for each spouse separately, not combined.  Check 1040 Schedule 3 line 11 for it.  Then Schedule 3 goes to 1040 line 18d.

[andtea]

@VolvoGirl  Yes my own income is in excess of the $132. We are getting a refund of SS taxes in general, but it would be more if I could enter this in. Thanks for the suggestions, will look into them! I thought TT would have an easier way to help automate this...

[andtea]

@MaryK4 I know FICA taxes aren't withheld, but SS tax portion of FICA caps at $132k income. I'm already expecting an SS refund from my other jobs, so I would be expecting some here too.... just not sure how to report the withheld taxes if box 1 is $0...

[MaryK4]

In this particular case, a work-around you can use to get the excess Social Security refunded would be to put $1 in box 1 so you will not get the Error for a 0 W2. 

@andtea

[andtea]

@MaryK4 Brilliant, and simple, solution! TY! Can't believe I didn't think of it myself