IRS changed my excess Social Security tax amount - did FreeTaxUSA calculate it wrong?

The excess Social Security tax calculation appears on Schedule 3, Line 11 of your Form 1040. This happens when you have multiple jobs or employers that collectively withhold more than the maximum Social Security tax allowed for the year. For 2025, the Social Security wage base limit is $168,600. This means you only pay Social Security tax on earnings up to that amount. The tax rate is 6.2%, so the maximum Social Security tax any individual should pay is $10,453.20 ($168,600 × 6.2%). If your combined withholding from multiple employers exceeds this amount, you're entitled to claim the excess as a credit. FreeTaxUSA should have calculated this correctly based on your W-2s, but sometimes the software can make mistakes if there are unusual circumstances. The IRS recalculates this during processing and may adjust your refund accordingly.

I had a similar issue last year and spent HOURS trying to figure it out until I found taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai). They have this amazing tool that analyzes your tax documents and can pinpoint exactly where calculations went wrong. In my case, they found that one of my W-2s had a small error in box 4 that caused the excess Social Security tax calculation to be off. I uploaded my documents, got a detailed explanation within minutes, and was able to understand exactly what happened before my IRS letter even arrived.

Just wanted to update - I tried taxr.ai after posting my question above. It actually showed me exactly where FreeTaxUSA went wrong with my Social Security calculation. One of my W-2s had supplemental wages in a special box that confused the software. The tool highlighted the specific lines on Schedule 3 that were incorrect and explained the IRS's calculation method. Saved me from having to wait weeks for the IRS letter! Definitely recommend if anyone else has this issue.

If you need to talk to someone at the IRS about this adjustment and why it happened, good luck getting through the phone lines! I spent 4 hours on hold last month trying to reach someone about a similar issue. Then I found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) which is basically a service that waits on hold with the IRS for you. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c They called me back when an actual IRS agent was on the line. The agent explained exactly how they calculated my excess Social Security tax and why their number was different from my software's calculation. Turns out one of my employers had already refunded part of the excess!

I was totally wrong about Claimyr in my previous comment. After waiting another 3 hours on hold with the IRS yesterday, I gave in and tried it. Within 45 minutes, I got a call back with an actual IRS agent on the line. The agent explained that my excess Social Security calculation was off because my second employer had already adjusted for the excess on my final paycheck but the W-2 didn't show this clearly. The service saved me literally hours of hold time, and now I finally understand why my refund changed. Sometimes it's worth admitting when you're wrong!

I'm a payroll specialist and see this issue all the time. The problem often happens when you have multiple W-2s because each employer withholds Social Security tax without knowing about your other jobs. For example, if you earned $100,000 from Employer A and $90,000 from Employer B in 2025, both would withhold Social Security tax (6.2%). But since the wage base limit is $168,600, you should only pay tax on that amount, not on your full $190,000 combined earnings. The excess should be claimed on your return. Make sure all your W-2 box 4 amounts were entered correctly and that the software added them properly. Sometimes a simple typo can throw off the whole calculation!

Has anyone else noticed that tax software seems to mess up these calculations a lot? I've used TurboTax, H&R Block, and FreeTaxUSA over the years and ALL of them have made mistakes with excess Social Security calculations when I have multiple W-2s.