Question

Why doesn't HSA Deduction lower taxes?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 5, 2019
1 reply
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It doesn't look like TurboTax is doing the HSA deduction. If I enter 1700, my tax refund is $1655. If I enter 2700 instead, it still says my refund is $1655. I indicated withdrawals were used for medical purposes. Shouldn't increasing the HSA deduction amount decrease the taxes?

TurboTax Free Edition Online

B

BillM223

If your HSA contributions were found in box 12 with a code of "W" on the W-2, then it is likely that these are pre-tax dollars. In this case, your employer would have removed the amount contributed to the W-2 from Wages in boxes 1, 3, and 5 before the W-2 was published.

Therefore, changing the entry on the W-2 doesn't change your income.

Only if you make the HSA contributions with after-tax dollars would adding HSA contributions decrease your adjusted gross income (AGI) and increase your refund.

You enter after-tax contributions on the following screen: "Let's enter your HSA contributions" on line 2 "Any contributions you personally made (not through your employer)". Entries here will reduce your AGI.

NOTE: you must finish the HSA interview in order for the form 8889 to be completed. Not completing the HSA interview causes odd results. Form 8889 is used to justify the deduction of the contributions and the non-taxability of the distributions.

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