Cafe 125 amount different than actual deduction - can these health insurance premiums be deducted?

You've got two separate issues here. First, regarding the Cafe 125 amount on the W-2: This box shows pre-tax contributions to certain benefit plans like health insurance. If your brother-in-law's employer accidentally took double the correct amount but only reported half on the W-2, something is definitely off. The W-2 should reflect what was actually withheld pre-tax, not what should have been withheld. If they took too much but only reported part of it, his taxable wages might be incorrectly inflated. Your brother-in-law should contact his employer's payroll or HR department right away to request a corrected W-2 (Form W-2c). As for deducting health insurance premiums - since these are already pre-tax under the Cafe 125 (Section 125) plan, they're already reducing his taxable income. You can't double-dip by deducting them again elsewhere. The benefit is already built into his lower taxable wages.

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Just to add some additional context about Cafe 125 plans - these are established under Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code (hence the name) and allow employees to pay for certain benefits with pre-tax dollars. This typically includes health insurance premiums, dental insurance, vision care, and sometimes FSA or HSA contributions. The key issue in your brother-in-law's case is that whatever amount was actually deducted pre-tax should match what's reported on the W-2. If the employer took double payments but only reported half on the W-2, they've essentially taxed him on money he never received.

Has your brother-in-law checked his last December paystub against his W-2? Sometimes the year-end paystub will show the total pre-tax deductions for the entire year. He could compare this with what's shown in the Cafe 125 box on the W-2 to confirm the discrepancy.