During 2020 for ~1.5 months I was in a different state (GA). Pg 1 of W2 says TOTAL STATE while pg 2 says GA. How do I claim correctly (Total State isn't an option)?

[squiredws]

I had worked for a company at an office that was located in St. Paul, MN. However, with the pandemic work was temporarily suspended. When I returned I worked for a company remotely (via a computer), which ended up being for the majority of my time with them in 2020. However, I also did go down to GA to work the Senate special election run-offs for about a month and a half (~Nov 28th-Jan 5th). The W2's provided by the company had two different pages. On the first page, under BOX 15  the state was TOTAL STATE while the second page, under BOX 15 it listed GA as the state. I was wondering how do I appropriately file this?

I understand from my research that I will most likely have to file in two different states. But how do I find out the state taxes (presumably) for MN when it doesn't list it. Is it simply lessing the TOTAL STATE State Income tax (Box 17, page 1) from the GA State Income tax (Box17, page 2)?

[ErnieS0]

Total State means the total of all your state wages. Don’t enter these amounts on your W-2. Instead look for W-2 copies that have specific states. You found Georgia. There should be another for Minnesota.

Enter two rows in the state section. One for GA and one for MN, showing wages earned in GA and tax withheld. Do the same on another row for MN.

TurboTax will move the GA amounts to a GA return. File as a nonresident.

File a MN resident return (I assume you are a MN resident). MN taxes all your income so some of it will be double taxed. You can take a credit for taxes paid to other states (GA). TurboTax will figure the credit if you finish the GA return before MN.

[squiredws]

ErnieSO,

Thank you for responding in such an understandable and thorough way! To be perfectly honest, I have yet to finish my taxes. I did read your response soon after you had sent it but became discouraged as I was not given 2 individual state W-2's (only GA. Not a separate MN). So here I am...late at night again trying to re-attack this problem.

May I use the two W-2's given, to figure out the "MN Income"
[(TOTAL Income) - (GA Income)= (MN Income)? The reasoning being that since MN taxes all of your income anyways the State Tax Withheld of MN = Total State Tax Withheld anyways therefore you wouldn't need a separate MN W-2...?   If that makes any sense.

Thanks for the previous response and I hope to hear from you on this next "hurdle"

Sincerely,
Daniel

P.S. The "Sincerely" wasn't merely plopped-down, but purposefully chosen in the true(r) sense of the word.

[DMarkM1]

MN as your resident state is taxing all income from all sources.  As ErnieS0 mentions you are entering one W2 with two state lines.  The GA line will have only the GA wages and taxes withheld by GA per the GA W2 you have.  The MN line will show all the wages (matching box 1 of your W2) but the MN withholding box will be the total withholding minus the GA withholding.