Does anyone know if tuition reimbursement for a master's degree would also show up in Box 14? My company pays for my MBA classes but I don't see anything on my W-2 about it...should I be worried they're not reporting it correctly?

Thanks everyone for the detailed explanations about Box 14! I've been dealing with something similar and this thread has been incredibly helpful. Just to add another perspective - I work in payroll for a mid-size company and we do put educational assistance in Box 14 with various codes (sometimes "EDU", sometimes "EDUC" or "TUITION"). We're required to report it there even when it's not taxable, mainly for record-keeping purposes and to show employees what benefits they received during the year. The key thing to remember is that if your educational benefit was properly excluded from your Box 1 wages AND it's under the $5,250 annual limit, then you're all set - no additional reporting needed on your tax return. If you're ever unsure, comparing your final paystub totals to your W-2 Box 1 amount can help you verify everything was handled correctly. @Yuki Tanaka - since you mentioned this is your first year with the university, definitely keep track of these benefits throughout the year so you know where you stand relative to that $5,250 limit!

I've been following this thread and wanted to add something that might be helpful for your situation. Since you mentioned you've been contributing to the ESOP for 5 years, there's another angle worth exploring that I don't think anyone has mentioned yet. Some ESOPs have what's called "diversification rights" that kick in after you've been a participant for a certain number of years (often 5+ years) and reached a certain age. Even if you haven't reached the typical retirement age, these rights sometimes allow you to diversify a portion of your ESOP account into other investments without the same withdrawal penalties. This isn't the same as taking cash out, but it could give you access to funds through a diversification distribution that might have different tax treatment than a standard early withdrawal. The diversified amount could potentially be rolled into an IRA, giving you more flexibility for penalty-free withdrawals under various circumstances. Also, I'd recommend specifically asking your plan administrator about any "in-service distribution" options beyond just hardship withdrawals. Some plans allow limited distributions after certain service periods that might not be well-documented in the standard materials. Given all the great advice in this thread about negotiating medical bills, using EAP services, and timing strategies, you're definitely on the right track to minimize the financial impact. The combination of reducing the actual medical expenses AND optimizing the withdrawal strategy could make this much more manageable than that initial 40% tax hit you were facing.

I've been dealing with a similar ESOP situation recently and wanted to share a few additional considerations that might help based on what I learned from working with our benefits team. One thing I discovered is that some companies have "bridge loan" programs specifically for employees facing medical hardships. These are separate from standard ESOP loans and are designed to help you avoid early withdrawal penalties while you explore other options. My company had this buried in their benefits portal - it wasn't something HR actively promoted, but when I specifically asked about alternatives to ESOP withdrawals for medical emergencies, they pointed me to it. Also, if you're considering the medical expense exception route, make sure you understand how it interacts with any Health Savings Account contributions or medical expense itemizations on your taxes. There can be some complex coordination rules that affect which expenses count toward the 7.5% AGI threshold versus which ones provide other tax benefits. One timing consideration I hadn't seen mentioned - if you're planning to use the medical expense exception, the IRS is pretty strict about the expenses being "unreimbursed." So if you have any pending insurance claims or potential reimbursements from other sources, make sure those are resolved before you finalize your withdrawal calculations. I almost made the mistake of including expenses that were later covered by a secondary insurance policy I'd forgotten about. The conversation about state-specific rules is spot on too. Some states also have their own medical expense exceptions or different AGI calculations that could work in your favor. Worth researching before you commit to the federal approach.

This AGI mismatch issue is driving me crazy too! I've been dealing with the same rejection for over a week now. What's really frustrating is that I triple-checked my 2023 AGI from line 11 and it's definitely correct. I even pulled up my PDF copy and compared it character by character. I'm seeing a lot of people mention trying $0 as the prior year AGI - that seems counterintuitive but if it works, I'll definitely give it a shot. Has anyone figured out WHY this is happening so much this year? Like is it a system-wide IRS glitch or something with TurboTax specifically? I'm also curious about those transcript services people are mentioning. Might be worth it just to see what the IRS actually has on file vs what I think they should have. This whole situation is making me want to switch tax software next year honestly.

This AGI mismatch rejection is such a widespread issue this filing season! I went through this exact same frustration a few weeks ago. After trying everything - double-checking my 2023 AGI multiple times, creating an IRS online account, even calling their helpline (total waste of time) - what finally worked was the $0 trick that several people mentioned here. I know it sounds completely backwards to enter $0 when you KNOW your AGI is correct, but apparently the IRS systems are expecting this if they made any backend adjustments to your 2023 return that you weren't notified about. It's like their left hand doesn't know what their right hand is doing. If the $0 doesn't work, I'd definitely recommend checking out those transcript analysis tools people mentioned or using a service to actually get through to an IRS agent. Sometimes there are weird system glitches that only they can see and fix on their end. Don't let TurboTax drive you crazy - this isn't your fault and it's definitely fixable! The IRS e-file system has been a hot mess this year but your refund will come through once you get past this hurdle.

I had this exact same worry when my license expired right before tax season! Filed anyway and had absolutely no problems. The IRS doesn't verify license expiration dates - they just use the number for identity matching. You're totally safe to file now and just renew your license when convenient. Don't let this delay your refund!

I'm a bit confused about something - if the driver's license number is what matters for identity verification, what happens if you've moved states and gotten a completely new license number? Would that cause issues with the IRS if your previous returns had a different DL number on them? Just wondering since I might be relocating soon and want to make sure I understand how this all works.

One more thing nobody mentioned - make sure both W-2s have the correct "retirement plan" box checked if you contribute to a 401k or similar. I had a mid-year payroll switch and one W-2 had it checked but the other didn't, which messed up my IRA contribution deduction eligibility.

This is a really important point that often gets overlooked! I went through a similar mid-year payroll switch situation and learned the hard way that you need to verify ALL the boxes and year-to-date totals, not just the basic wage information. In addition to the retirement plan box and Social Security wages that others mentioned, also double-check: - State disability insurance (SDI) withholding limits if you're in CA, NY, or other states that have them - Any HSA contributions - make sure the annual limits aren't exceeded across both W-2s - Dependent care assistance program (DCAP) benefits if your company offers them The payroll providers often don't communicate these year-to-date limits to each other, so you could end up with over-withholding or under-withholding that creates tax complications later. I had to file amended returns because my HSA contributions were incorrectly reported as exceeding the annual limit when they were actually fine - it was just split across two W-2s.