How to enter a number on Line 7 of Form 8889, Additional HSA contribution amount?

[yonghai]

I had excess HSA contribution in 2023, so I need to enter a few hundred dollars into Line 7, Form 8889,  but I can't find a way to do so, except to override it.

I don't know if this is a bug in TurboTax Premier, I meet all the requirements for Line 7, Form 8889:

Line 7:
If you are age 55 or older at the end of the year, and you and your spouse had family coverage under a high deductible health plan at any time during the year, any additional contribution you are entitled to will be calculated here.

[rjs]

It's not a bug. The key phrase in the sentence that you quoted is "will be calculated here." TurboTax calculates the amount on Form 8889 line 7. You cannot enter it yourself. TurboTax calculates it based on your age as of the end of 2023 and your answers to the questions in the HSA contributions section of the TurboTax interview.

Were you married as of the end of 2023? You can only have an additional contribution amount if you were married.

Were you enrolled in Medicare in 2023? If so, you cannot have an additional contribution amount.

For additional details, see the instructions for line 7 on page 7 of the IRS Instructions for Form 8889.

If you still think there should be an amount on line 7, go back through the HSA contributions section of the interview again and check your answers.

[yonghai]

Thank you, RJS.

I went through the HSA interview again, I answered all questions correctly, I'm over 55 years old, married, and didn't have Medicare. I and my spouse had family coverage under a HDHP at any time during the year.

So, the calculation from TurboTax for line 7 is incorrect.  It's zero. It should be $1,000 in my case. I don't know how to correct it?

[rjs]

I'm not sure what's going on. Here are a few things to check.

If you and your spouse both had HSAs there will be two Forms 8889, one for you and one for your spouse. In the list of forms they are labeled 8889-T and 8889-S. Are you looking at the Form 8889 for you? It should have your name at the top.

You said you're over 55 and married, but it's not your age and marital status now that matter. What matters is your age and marital status as of December 31, 2023. Were you over 55 and married as of December 31, 2023?

Does TurboTax have your correct age? Look at the Personal Information Worksheet for you. (Make sure your name is at the top.) What does it have for "age as of 1-1-2024"? Is the date of birth correct?

Does TurboTax know that you were married? Is your filing status on Form 1040 married filing jointly?

On your Form 8889, in the Line 3 Smart Worksheet, is the Family box checked for every month?

If you can't find the problem you will have to call TurboTax support. With your permission they can look at your tax return. We can't do that here in the community.

[yonghai]

Hi rjs,

Thanks for your detailed info.

I was over 55 and married as of December 31, 2023.

TurboTax have my correct age.

On my Form 8889, in the Line 3 Smart Worksheet, the Family box is checked for every month.

I will call TurboTax support if I get a chance. 

I called them yesterday about the expense for business income, I spent 3 hours and didn't get anything. You helped me resolve that issue today. Thanks.

I might choose to give up this few hundred dollars in HSA.

Thank you.

[Mike9241]

does line 3 contains an extra $1000 ($8750 rather than the normal $7750) 

if it does, this is wrong according to IRS instructions for line 3. see below

with family coverage the extra $1000 goes on line 7

[rjs · Accepted solution]

Here's one other thing you might try. Make sure you have no overrides anywhere in your tax return. Overrides can cause the automatic calculations to break in unexpected ways, even if the override is in a place that you think has nothing to do with the problem. Occasionally people create an override accidentally by pressing Ctrl-D without realizing it. If an entry has been overridden, the value will be displayed in red instead of black in forms mode.

Here's how you can find out if you have any overrides. On the Tools menu select My Tax Data. A window will open that lists all the entries in your return. Any entry that was overridden will say Overridden in the Source column. You can click on the heading of the Source column to sort on that column, so that any Overridden entries will be together. If there are Details or Import entries at the top of the list after you sort it, scroll down to see if there are any Overridden entries after the Details and Import entries. The item in the My Tax Data list tells you the form and line number that has the override. You can click on an overridden item, then click the Go To Form button at the bottom of the list to go to the form that has the override.

Remove any overrides that you find. After removing all overrides, see if you still have the problem.

To remove an override, click on the overridden number (displayed in red), then either:
Press Ctrl-D
OR right-click the number and select Cancel Override on the pop-up menu
OR on the Edit menu select Cancel Override.

[yonghai]

Thank you, rjs.

I just checked, I don't have any overrides. 

I tried to avoid any overrides, so I can e-file. I know I could just override line 7 of Form 8889 for a quick fix. But I don't want to do that.

Thank you.

[yonghai]

Hi Mike,

You are correct, I think that could be the reason why Line 7 is zero. 

Currently, I don't think we have a way to fix the error unless overriding it.

thank you.

[rjs]

Have you checked for updates to the software? Make sure you have the latest update. If you are using TurboTax in Windows, on the "Online" menu select "Check for Updates."

[rjs]

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@yonghai wrote:

Hi Mike,

You are correct, I think that could be the reason why Line 7 is zero. 

Currently, I don't think we have a way to fix the error unless overriding it.

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In the Line 3 Smart Worksheet, what amount is in the right-hand column for each month? What amount is on line B?

[yonghai]

There are all 7750.

My TurboTax is updated.

It's fine, because line 3 is 8750