Why do I get High Deductible Health Plan coverage lapse in turbotax when answering for my wife coverage?

[jrberdecia]

This is the situation, my wife has always been covered by my health plan, no lapses ever, I answered all the turbotax questions correctly but get the following when answering my wife section. On the first question I answered: Family

What type of High Deductible Health Plan did Ana have on December 1, 2023? Family

On the 2nd question I get the lapse issue which is not true at all (not sure from where turbotax get this):

Did Ana's High Deductible Health Plan coverage lapse in 2024 due to disability? 

We see that Ana had a break in HDHP health coverage during 2024. Let us know if this was a result of a disability. (Which never happened and don't understand from where TurboTax is getting this).

And I have to choose from: Yes, coverage ended due to disability or No, coverage ended for other reasons.

(None of these are valid at all, there is no other options to choose from).

[MindyB]

To resolve this, revisit the HSA entry and make sure you have indicated she had a high-deductible health plan all year. 

• Click on Federal Taxes,  Deduction & Credits
• Choose "add/edit" HSA, MSA Contributions
• You will see a page titled "Your HSA Summary" which will show any deductions already computed from your W-2  
• Choose Edit, Check the box for HSA, Continue
• You'll now see a screen that says "Here's what we have so far" with the information from the 1099-SA, choose "Edit"
• After the entry screen for the amount distributed, double check the amount, continue and when it asks "Did you spend your HSA money on medical expenses only?" answer "Yes", if accurate. 
• Choose done and continue until you get to a screen that says "Let's enter your HSA contributions" and double check the amounts from your W-2 that carried over (don't add anything to the personal contributions box unless you contributed outside of payroll)
• Continue on, until you are asked if you were covered by a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) in 2024? 

[jrberdecia]

Thanks for the quick response but I did all that since the beginning and revised multiple times the answers, still get the same results previously stated. I can't make the app to not indicate that she had a lapse when there is none.

[BillM223 · Accepted solution]

In all likelihood, one of you does not have an HSA, so you never went through the HSA interview to tell TurboTax that you had HDHP coverage, so TurboTax got confused and thought that maybe your coverage "lapsed". Sound familiar? If so, see the bulleted list.

• If you or your spouse [whoever is NAME in the 2023 question] did not have an HSA in 2024, then answer NONE.
• If you or your spouse had an HSA but did not contribute to an HSA in 2024, then answer NONE. (Remember that each of you can have an HSA).
• If you or your spouse was covered by an HDHP policy for each month of 2024, then answer NONE.

That is, answer NONE to the question "What type of High Deductible Health Plan did [name] have on December 1, 2023", because in these cases the question doesn't apply to you.

[jrberdecia]

Thank you, the last part of your answer solved the issue:

"That is, answer NONE to the question "What type of High Deductible Health Plan did [name] have on December 1, 2023", because in these cases the question doesn't apply to you."

[taxpayer1040a]

Answering None to the last question does make the questions about lapses in coverage go away.  However,  it does not provide any confidence that the correct information is being reported to the IRS.   And it is very confusing.  Intuit product team - please fix this!

[bonsai171]

I'm getting the same coverage lapse question in Turbotax 2024 but also had no lapse.  In addition, my wife and I have FSAs instead of HSAs.  Should I have answered "no" to the do you have a high deductible health plan question?

[BillM223]

"What type of High Deductible Health Plan did [name] have on December 1, 2023?"

In all likelihood, one of you does not have an HSA, so this person never went through the HSA interview to tell TurboTax that this person had HDHP coverage, so TurboTax got confused and thought that maybe this person's coverage "lapsed". Sound familiar? If so, see the bulleted list.

• If you or your spouse [whoever is NAME above] did not have an HSA in 2023, then answer NONE.
• If you or your spouse had an HSA but did not contribute to an HSA in 2023, then answer NONE. (Remember that each of you can have an HSA).
• If you or your spouse was covered by an HDHP policy for each month of 2023, then answer NONE.

That is, answer NONE to the question "What type of High Deductible Health Plan did [name] have on December 1, 2023", because the question doesn't apply to [NAME].

Remember that each of you can have an HSA, so there are two subsections of the HSA interview, one for each HSA owner. Unfortunately, it is not obvious to you that while one of answered the HDHP questions in the HSA interview, the other [name] never answered any HDHP questions in the HSA interview, so TurboTax thought (wrongly) that [name] did not have HDHP coverage for 2024. But when you answered that question for [name]'s coverage in December, 2023, then TurboTax thought that [name]'s coverage for 2023 had lapsed for 2024. So just answer NONE.

Yes, this question could be handled better.

@bonsai171 

@jrberdecia 

[amdail]

So to be clear...both I and my husband have health insurance (Medicare/TriCare), but not an HDHP nor any HSA/MSA.  I answered no to the HSA question, still getting the What type of HDHP question...

I am to answer NONE for each of us, correct?

While it would seem obvious, it would be helpful if in the note TT also states if you have health insurance that is not an HDHP to pick NONE.

[BillM223]

bonsai171

Since you have an FSA, this question doesn't apply to you, because you don't even have a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP), EXCEPT if you had an HDHP with no conflicting coverage (like an FSA) on December 1, 2023.

If you did not have unconflicted HDHP coverage on December 1, 2023, just answer NONE.

amdail

Yes., both of you answer NONE to the December 1, 2023 question, because you did not have unconflicted HDHP coverage on December 1, 2023. The issue is that every taxpayer need to see this (even if they don't have an HSA) because they might have had an HSA in 2023 and contributed to it, even if they subsequently closed it.

@amdail 

@bonsai171 

[Umunhum]

I agree it is confusing: I came to this page because it led me astray also.  I think what answering NONE in this case means, however, is that the spouse did not have her/his own HDHP, even if the spouse was covered by the family plan.  Thanks Bill M223 for the tip.