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jlm41001
New Member

I live in TN and box 15 requests that I enter a state but TN won’t work. What do I need to enter?

 
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3 Replies

I live in TN and box 15 requests that I enter a state but TN won’t work. What do I need to enter?

If you do not have state income taxes withheld in box 17 on the W-2, then leave boxes 15, 16 and 17 blank (empty)

I live in TN and box 15 requests that I enter a state but TN won’t work. What do I need to enter?

Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming don't have income tax either, but they're all listed in the dropdown list.  I'm thinking if there's something in Box 15, we should add it in TurboTax the way I've done for the past 30+ years.  It seems like it's just an oversight this year. (I'm using TurboTax Home and Business).

BillM223
Employee Tax Expert

I live in TN and box 15 requests that I enter a state but TN won’t work. What do I need to enter?

It is true that we at TurboTax do tell you all the time to enter whatever is printed on an IRS form, exactly as printed.

 

But this situation on the W-2 is an exception.

 

The issue is that there are many software programs that generate W-2s, and some of them put the state abbreviation in box 15 in every case, even if the state does not have an income tax, and there are no entries in boxes 16 and 17.

 

The IRS software that receives these W-2s just ignores such entries, but TurboTax chooses not to do so, because the software wants to be sure that you didn't forget to make entries in boxes 16 and 17 as well, or that you entered the state abbreviation in box 15 correctly, and so on.

 

This is why this is an exception to the "enter everything" rule - as DoninGA says, if you have an entry in box 15 of the W-2 but not in boxes 16 or 17, then just leave box 15 blank.

 

Of course, if you work in a state with an income tax and you expect an entry in box 17 (state income tax withheld) and you don't see one, then you should immediately your employer to find out why the box(es) are empty.

 

@dsmith5010

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