I am being told to select my state, but I live in Tennessee and its not shown. What do I do now?

6 replies
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Tennessee does not have state income tax. I already know this but I'm being told to select a state and its not showing in the dropdown. It literally has all 49 states, DC, and all the US territories, but NOT Tennessee. What do I do now?

VolvoGirlAnswer

Level 15

If your state has no state income tax, it is not in the drop down menu of Box 15 of form W-2. Just leave boxes 15-17 Blank, no spaces.

SharonD007

Alumni - Intuit

Are you on the address screen? What TurboTax product are you using? Please provide more information so we may assist you.

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VolvoGirlAnswer

Level 15

If your state has no state income tax, it is not in the drop down menu of Box 15 of form W-2. Just leave boxes 15-17 Blank, no spaces.

Nabs Mom

Level 2

I have left it blank several times and when I select "continue" it says I have four items to review and all four are wanting me to select a state. My return is done except figuring out how to bypass this one box!

RachelW33

Alumni - Expert

Make sure that you have no entries in the State Taxes section of the W2 input, Boxes 15 through 20 should be left blank. You may want to try deleting your W2 and then re-entering it if you continue to get this message.

@Nabs Mom

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dsmith5010

Level 3

This is so frustrating, stupid, and an easily correctable UX (User Experience). TT asks me several times to file state taxes. At first, I answer yes, but then my state ISN'T EVEN IN THE LIST. I would be nice if my state was IN THE LIST and when I picked it, TT told me that I didn't need to file. That would not only be a better UX, it would also be reassuring that I was making the right decisions.

So, I back out, delete the state, go the next step, Voila! "Don't forget about Your State Return". I didn't forget... YOU DID. These minor annoyances, make the UX frustrating and causes us to second guess our decisions. If you know I don't need to pay state takes, please stop asking (or just say "you don't need to do this). The reason I'm saying this is that tax laws change. I've been fortunate to live in a tax free state for most of my life. However, even though income make not be taxed, it doesn't meat that DIV or Capital Gains tax isn't (it's not now, but it was up to 2023). All I'm saying is that if TT knows... please come right out and say it, and then stop asking after we get through that point.

On another note... Speaking of bad UX... right in the middle of typing this response, the website decides to put a popup survey in front of me. 👎

DoninGA

Level 15

@dsmith5010 In the My Info section of the program when entering your personal information, did you select Tennessee as your resident state? If so, when asked if you lived in another state or made money in another state did you indicate NO?

If you imported a W-2 as a Tennessee employee and it is asking for a state, then leave boxes 15, 16 and 17 blank (empty)

If the error persists, delete the W-2 and re-enter manually.