I am entering HSA contributions for a couple, both have a plan and I'm getting an error message for excess when they aren't over the limit.

[qbteachmt]

More details would be helpful.

Did they Each have a HDHP or one as Family? For every month? What are their ages? How much did they contribute? When did they contribute for that year and is that the tax year you are preparing?

Have they shown you their 5498-SA forms?

[forjewellz]

Husband and wife each have a plan at their own employer. The husband covers only himself, contributed $500 and employer did $250 for him. Wife has herself and 2 kids on family plan. She contributed $3,000 and the employer did $750. All through payroll deduct from each paycheck, evenly throughout the year. They are both under 50. 

I have the 5498 for the wife's plan, but husband hasn't received his yet. 

The message is saying that she over contributed.

Per the instructions, I have them both marked as having a family plan.

[BobKamman]

Your first mistake is trying to decode what the Form 8889 instructions are telling you. They start out with:

“How To Complete Part I
“Complete lines 1 through 13 as instructed on the form. However, if you, and your spouse if filing jointly, are both eligible individuals and either of you has an HDHP with family coverage, you both are treated as having only the family coverage plan. Disregard any plans with self-only coverage.”

And then they go on to say the following. But does this next paragraph apply to the situation in the prior one, involving one spouse with family and the other with self-only? Or have we solved that problem, by disregarding the husband’s plan? Does that mean we have to disregard his contributions also?

“Complete a separate Form 8889 for each spouse. Combine the amounts on line 13 of both Forms 8889 and enter this amount on Schedule 1 (Form 1040 or 1040-SR), line 12; or Form 1040-NR, line 25. Be sure to attach both Forms 8889 to your paper tax return.”

The message I get is that IRS can’t deal with this either, so they want a paper return when both spouses have an HSA.

Are these contributions being made with after-tax dollars? When I see employer HSA’s, it’s usually through a cafeteria plan where the deduction is already taken on the W-2. But you still have to file the form. Unless it’s not required.

[PhoebeRoberts]

I have this same fact pattern on my own return. It'll e-file just fine. 

In the HSA screen, there's a line around the middle that's an override for how much of the family HSA contribution max to allocate to each spouse. Lacerte in its infinite wisdom splits it 50/50 by default; I think PTO does the same. It doesn't matter what split you use, as long as the amount allocated to each spouse is at least as much as the total contributions to that spouse's account, and the sum is equal to the family contribution limit.

[PhoebeRoberts]

The line that's somewhere in the middle is, in Lacerte, in the section headed Contributions and Deductions, and is titled "Allocable share of limitation (8889, Line 6) [O]"

[forjewellz]

Yes, I've entered info there and it appears to be calculating correcting, but I still have the error message. Is it ok to just file it anyway?