Free Fillable Forms giving error about withholding not matching in step 2 - driving me crazy!

This is a common issue with Free Fillable Forms that drives many people crazy! The problem is likely related to how Free Fillable Forms validates W-2 withholding against the totals on your 1040. There are a few things to check: First, make sure the federal income tax withholding from all three W-2s (Box 2) is correctly totaled on line 25a of your 1040. Second, check if you accidentally entered any state withholding amounts in the federal withholding fields. Third, look for any rounding issues - sometimes even a $1 difference can trigger the error. Another common issue is that Free Fillable Forms sometimes has a glitch where it doesn't properly recognize withholding from multiple W-2s, even when entered correctly. Try clearing your browser cache and cookies, then log back in. If that doesn't work, try using a different browser entirely.

After dealing with similar Free Fillable Forms errors last year, I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it's been a game-changer. I was also getting those frustrating withholding mismatch errors and kept going in circles. The tool basically analyzes your tax forms and checks for these exact kinds of inconsistencies. I uploaded my W-2s and it immediately spotted where the numbers weren't adding up correctly - turns out I had accidentally doubled a Medicare withholding amount which was causing validation errors. It saved me hours of frustration and prevented a potential audit flag. If you're still having trouble after trying the suggestions above, might be worth giving it a try. The document analysis feature is especially helpful with complex returns or multiple W-2s.

Just wanted to update that I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here. I was having similar issues with withholding amounts not matching up in Free Fillable Forms. The tool actually found that I had entered one of my husband's W-2s twice with slightly different numbers (must have been when I was trying to fix something else). It also caught that I had accidentally put a state withholding amount in the local tax field. Would have been a headache to track down on my own! Definitely helped me get past those frustrating validation errors. Once I fixed those issues, Free Fillable Forms finally let me submit without the errors.

For anyone still struggling with IRS Free Fillable Forms errors - I had a similar issue last year that I couldn't resolve and ended up calling the IRS. Obviously, that was a nightmare of waiting on hold forever. I found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me through to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes instead of the usual 2+ hour wait. They have a demo video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent was able to explain that my withholding error was happening because I had entered an employer identification number incorrectly on one W-2, causing the system to think it was a duplicate entry with mismatched amounts. Wouldn't have figured that out on my own in a million years! Sometimes you just need to talk to a human at the IRS to resolve these technical glitches.

I have to eat my words about Claimyr. After continuing to struggle with Free Fillable Forms and that same withholding error for another week, I broke down and tried it. Was absolutely convinced it wouldn't work, but I got through to an IRS agent in about 25 minutes. The agent explained that there's actually a known issue with Free Fillable Forms this year where if you have exactly 3 W-2s (weird coincidence), sometimes the system calculates withholding incorrectly during validation. She walked me through a workaround where I needed to enter the W-2s in a specific order and save between each one. Problem solved after two weeks of banging my head against the wall. Sometimes you really do need to talk to a human at the IRS, and waiting 5 hours on hold just isn't an option when you have a job and life.

Have you tried using a different tax preparation option? I've used Free Fillable Forms in the past and ran into so many glitches and errors. This year I switched to FreeTaxUSA and it's been so much smoother. They handle all the validation and matching behind the scenes. It's free for federal filing and only $15 for state. Might be worth considering if you're still having issues with Free Fillable Forms. The peace of mind from not dealing with these technical errors is worth it for me.

One thing to check that nobody has mentioned - sometimes the withholding error can be triggered by inconsistencies with your social security numbers. Check that your SSNs are entered exactly the same way on all forms (no extra spaces, dashes in the right places, etc). I had the exact same error last year and spent forever checking withholding amounts only to discover it was because my SSN was entered with dashes on some forms and without dashes on others. Free Fillable Forms treated them as different people with withholding that didn't match up!

I feel your pain with Free Fillable Forms! I had a similar nightmare last year with multiple W-2s. One thing that worked for me was to completely clear out all the withholding entries and re-enter them one by one, making sure to save after each W-2 entry. Also, double-check that you're not accidentally including any estimated tax payments or prior year overpayments in your withholding calculations. Sometimes those get mixed in and cause validation errors. If you're still stuck, try printing out the PDF of your return and manually calculating the totals yourself to compare against what the system is showing. That's how I caught my error - the system was somehow adding an extra $200 that I couldn't account for until I traced through every single line item. Good luck! These technical glitches are so frustrating when you know your numbers are right.