Here's a new twist on what seems to be the same problem from last year.
I am a Kansas resident and my employer is in Missouri. My employer implemented an addition to the time keeping system on April 1, 2022 that allowed employees to record if they were working remotely. In my case I worked remotely in Kansas more than 50% of the year. As a result of this new system they have produced W2’s for both MO and KS with different amounts in box 16 State Wages. Box 1 for Federal on both all W2’s is the same at just under $70k. On the MO W2 they provide an earnings amount that is $43k in box 16. Box 16 on the KS W2 matches the federal amount as it should.
My employer has provided documentation that states that the MO state wage amount is based only on the new system for the final 3 quarters of the year. Based on my records of my work location during the first quarter, I only spent 30 hours in MO during the first quarter. In order to get close to the MO earnings amount my employer provided on the W2, I have to put all my first quarter wages in MO. Efforts to get the employer to correct this error have been met with silence.
No problem working through federal. I then proceed to complete MO as a Non-Resident. As I go through the interview, I am asked to enter the wages of Remote work. I enter what I consider to be my Remote Work wages based on my records which ends up on form MO-NRI, Part B, subsection A. This amount is greater than the MO W2 box 16 by about $4k. The TurboTax error check results in an error message that says my remote work cannot be greater than the MO wages. This message makes no sense to me. I don’t understand why TurboTax is looking at W2 box 16 for MO when I am being asked about remote work in KS. I could almost understand if the program looked at the W2 box 1, subtracted MO box 16 (70-43=23) and said that was the allowable remote wage.
I went to form view and started adjusting the amount of remote wages to see what it takes to clear the error. When the Remote Wages matches the MO box 16 that has been entered or less, the error is eliminated. Seems like a TurboTax error to me.
I plan to enter the box 16 amount for KS in both KS and MO, then report my Remote KS earnings in the form MO-NRI, Part B, subsection A and my MO wages as I have calculated based on my pay stubs and records of where I worked and when and I get no errors from TurboTax. Won't it be interesting to see if MO wants to know why I report more income on the return than the W2.
