The question is "why do the two state wages numbers (box 16) not add up to the amount of wages in box 1?"
You say that you have two W-2s from the same company. Are the amounts in box 1 of each W-2 your total wages for the year (including from both states)? If so, then this presents a problem, in that if you enter both of these, your federal income will be doubled.
Or is the Box 1 amount in each W-2 supposedly the amount of wages earned in that state? If so, why would the box 1 amount be different from the box 16 amount?
Normally, an employer would give you one W-2, with two rows of information entered on boxes 15-17, one row for MD and the other for DC. I wonder why your employer did not do that. Are you working for different divisions of the company?
My answer is tempered by the fact that I am not sure what your employer intended by creating these W-2s. Could you give us sample numbers of the W-2s that aren't real but are sort of representative of what you got?
If you can, please give us for each W-2:
Box 1
Box 3
Boxes 15, 16, 17
Thanks.
**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post
**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"
