Excess Social Security withholdings - FreeTaxUSA vs. H&R Block
Running FTUSA and HRB side by side. I notice in HRB, my wife and I (filing joint) get a $4,000 credit due to excess Social Security withholdings having both been employed and making more than $168,600 combined. A quick Google search shows this quote from TurboTax:
For tax year 2024, you'll have excess Social Security withholdings if the sum of multiple employers' withholdings exceeds $10,453.20 per taxpayer. You don't need to do anything. We'll automatically add the excess to your federal refund or subtract it from federal taxes you owe, whichever applies.
If I add Line 4 from both our W2s, it totals $14,453.31 which is exactly $4,000 over the value described above. Is this credited anywhere on FTUSA? I don't see any line items or automatic calculations for it. I really don't want to use HRB, and I'm hoping it's captured somewhere on FTUSA.
Thanks!
Answers
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Hello Vulpes, and thank you for your question.
In your post you indicated that you and your spouse have combined wages over the Social Security wage base limit which you correctly note is $168,600. You might not be seeing any credit because when you file jointly, you and your spouse must figure any excess Social Security tax separately. Thus, if your wage, and that of your spouse, are below the wage base limit when viewed separately, then you won’t see any credit for excess Social Security withholdings.
Here is a link to an IRS webpage which discusses excess social security tax withholding which you might find helpful. https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc608
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Hi @GeorgeM, thank you for the quick reply. It seems to be a bug in the HRB software. I was able to find a workaround to force my wife's W2 off my name and that $4,000 credit disappeared.
