Mulitple W2s caused excess social security tax withheld

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
March 9, 2022
2 replies
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I have W2s from two different employers in 2021. Turbo Tax is telling me to get a corrected W2 from my current employer which is not correct since they need to withhold the amount that the company calculates - they do now take into account whatever the old/other company withheld. How am I am able to claim this excess as credit on my 1040? I do not see a way to get Turbo tax to adjust this.

Best answer by ThomasM125

If you enter W-2's from different employers and they withheld too much social security tax, you should get a refund of the excess on your tax return. It is possible that the IRS considers your employer to be one since they appear to have common ownership and that could be the issue.

You could try entering one of the W2's without the ID number and see if that resolves the issue. If so, you could file the return manually without issue.

You could also try deleting the two W-2's and reentering them.

AamilD

It depends. You will have excess Social Security withholdings if the sum of multiple employer's withholding exceeds $8,853.60

If multiple employers in combination withhold excess Social Security, then you don't need to do anything since TurboTax will automatically add the excess to your refund amount which you will be able to see on Line 11 of your Form 1040, Schedule 3.

However, lets look at a different scenario. The amount liable to Social Security tax is capped at earnings of $142,800 in 2021. So while for example if you earn $100,000 from your first employer and $50,000 from your second employer, this is above the $142,800 and in that case TurboTax will add the excess to your refund which you can see on Line 11 of your Form 1040, Schedule 3.

However, if you for example earned $150,000 from your first employer and $50,000 from your second employer, this case is different. Even though you have multiple employers, since 1 of them individually exceeds the limit and did extra withholding, in this case TurboTax will not add the amount to the refund and you will have to contact your employer to provide you with a corrected W-2. Additionally, your employer will have to provide a refund for the excess amount.

Do not file with excess withholdings on your return, as you may be subjected to penalties and interest.

Please visit Can I get a refund for excess Social Security tax withheld? for more information.

Additionally, You can view your return or just your 1040 form before you e-file to make sure the numbers which are being used for calculation seem reasonable.

Please follow the steps below:

Open or continue your return.
Select Tax Tools in the left menu (if you don't see this, select the menu icon in the upper-left corner).
With the Tax Tools menu open, you can then:
- Preview your entire return: Select Print Center and then Print, Save, or Preview This Year's Return (you may be asked to register or pay first).
- View only your 1040 form: Select Tools. Next, select View Tax Summary in the pop-up, then Preview my 1040 in the left menu. This option is free and you can Preview your return before you file.

Additionally, please visit Preview Tax Return before E-Filing , for more information

Barb777Author

My first employer wages were only $7,955 and the second was over $142,800. I entered the information into Turbo Tax and the software is not applying the excess to Line 11 of Form 1040, Schedule 3. Turbo Tax is saying that I need a corrected W2 which my employer is rightfully saying they will not do. How do I correct this in the software to give me a tax credit?

DoninGA

Employee

@Barb777 Is the Employer EIN the same on both W-2's?

MeiMei1

Hi, everyone!

Is this issue resolved? It seems that I am still facing the same issue recently (I have multiple W2s coming from the same employer. But TurboTax incorrectly adds up the social security tax and shows an error stating that I need to get a W-2c for excess social security tax withheld (which my employer confirms there's nothing wrong with my W-2s).

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

DawnC

Employee

If the W-2s are from the same employer, TurboTax will not issue the credit on your tax return. You will need to submit Form 843 to get your excess SS contributions returned to you. @MeiMei1

How to get a refund for excess SS - Please see the instructions in the link. Please see the note at the bottom - before giving the Form 843 instructions. Do not file with excess withholdings on your return, as you may be subjected to penalties and interest.

What if my employer can't—or won't—cooperate?

You can correct the Box 4 amount yourself before filing. Simply multiply the amount in Box 3 by a factor of 0.062 and enter that amount or 9,114.00 (whichever is less) in Box 4.

To get a refund for the excess withholding, fill out IRS Form 843: Claim for Refund and Request for Abatement according to the Form 843 Instructions and mail it in separately. Make a copy to keep with your tax return paperwork.

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MeiMei1

Hi @DawnC

Thanks for your reply!

For the past couple years, I have always had multiple W-2s from the same employer and it has never caused any issues for my previous tax returns (This similar multiple W-2 structure actually applies to other employees at my companies as well)

I had tried the suggestion posted on this forum previously - to change one of the Employer (EIN) number. And once I did that the error never showed up again. So that means the numberings/calculations of the tax holdings are correct from my employer, but TurboTax just can't recognize the multiple W-2 structure and reports incorrect error.

So this seems like a software bug issue - would you be able to help fix this problem?

Thanks!