Question

Turbotax is saying "We see [spouse] had a break in HDHP health plan coverage during 2017" which is not correct. Where can I correct this information?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 5, 2019
4 replies
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TurboTax Deluxe Online

The question on the page before you see that there was a “lapse” in coverage is causing the issue.

On the previous page you should see the question, “What type of High Deductible Health Plan did [spouse] have on December 1, 2016?”. The choices are Family, Self only, or None.

If the spouse had been covered under the taxpayer's family plan, you might think you should answer Family to the question. However, the answer should be None.

It is referring to what type of plan the spouse held in their name on December 1, 2016. If the spouse had their own separate HDHP on that date, then choose the type of plan that the spouse had. If instead the spouse was covered under the plan in the taxpayer's name, then you should choose None.

To go back to the section of your return to answer the questions again, use the following steps:

On the top row of the TurboTax online screen, click on Search (or for CD/downloaded TurboTax locate the search box in the upper right corner)

This opens a box where you can type in “hsa” (be sure to enter exactly as shown here) and click the magnifying glass (or for CD/downloaded TurboTax, click Find)

The search results will give you an option to “Jump to hsa”

Click on the blue “Jump to hsa” link and edit your information

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H

hollyl

this could be explained better in turbotax. Even the explanation of an eligible individual is not very straightforward.

M

madk

+1

Seriously, this question is unnecessarily complicated. Like others, I had to use google to find the answer.

B

BillM223

The question in prior years (2016 and before) was even less clear, and this fix lacks clarity as well.

Your concerns are noted.

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M

morning_aura

Holy confusion, Batman! I even remembered that there was something wacky about this question that was counter intuitive and still made this mistake and had to look up the answer here. All it would take is a bit of explanation on the page along with the main question to make this so much easier. Which, isn't that the whole point of using TurboTax instead of just filling out the form yourself?

H

hantangma

I already selected family plan on my portion of HSA. The turbo tax should not ask this question on my spouse's portion.

B

BillM223

Your issue is with the question that asks "What type of High Deductible Health Plan did [name] have on December 1, 2019?"

Unfortunately, the question does not clarify that it is only for a small group of taxpayers and that all other taxpayers should answer "NONE".

NOTE: each spouse can have an HSA. The use of "you" below refers to whichever spouse's name was in the question above.

This question is trying to determine if you utilized the "last-month" rule in 2019 (yes, 2019). The last-month rule lets you use the full annual HSA contribution limit if you had HDHP coverage on December 1, even if you were not covered by an HDHP for all of the year.

However, the catch is that if you used the last-month rule, the IRS requires that you stay under HDHP coverage for all of the following year (2020).

***NOTE*** This question occurs on the taxpayer who does not have an HSA, so never had a chance to tell TurboTax in the HSA interview what their HDHP coverage was for 2020.

So, the fix is this: go back to the question (at the end of the HSA interview), and:

If you had HDHP coverage for all of 2019 , then enter NONE
If you had no HDHP coverage for all of 2019, then enter NONE.
If you did not have an HSA in 2019, then enter NONE.
If you had an HSA in 2019 but did not contribute to it in 2019, then enter NONE.

Only taxpayers who had their own HSA in 2019 AND who contributed to their own HSA in 2019 should answer “Family” or “Self” or “None” (which can be the right answer in some cases).

P.S. having a Family HDHP policy does not guarantee that your spouse was under it. The "family" could have been you and a dependent - this happens often enough when the spouse has separate non-HDHP insurance from his/her job.

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S

smily03

Does TT even monitor their forums for stuff like this? Same issue this year, talked to TWO different turbotax reps today who didn't know what the deal was, one of whom even gave incorrect advice based on what's in here. TT Please Fix This Issue! Overall I like your software but this is really really confusing/misleading!