Lived and worked in MN but but also travelled to NC for work. W2 contains MN state tax and additional section for NC state taxes

[akshayks]

I filed two state taxes, MN and NC in 2018. I will do the same for 2019 as well as I travelled to NC for work. My W2 contains Federal and MN state tax withholding on page 1. NC state tax withholding is in page 2 but it also has MN state wages (box-16) and tax (box-17) on page-2. It is like three splits of state taxes, two splits for MN and one for NC. When add up all three splits, it matches the total state tax but when I add the wages (box-16) for all three tax splits, it is way more than my wages stated in box-1. What confused me is the MN state wage and tax in the NC page of W2.

[SteamTrain]

I suspect you should only put in the NC and MN ( only two lines for 15-to-17) where the state wages total adds up to box 1 of the W-2.....as long as the box 17 amounts are correct for each.

.......hard to know if the W-2 issuer has prepared them quite  properly or not....could just have been a paging issue.

[AmyC · Accepted solution]

Let me help you enter this correctly. All of it is going on one W2 in the computer. Your first page is a partial summary.

1. Go to the federal income tab.
2. Click on Add W2.
3. Enter the federal information on page 1, you said it is accurate.
4. Continue entering page 1 through line 14
5. Box 15 enter NC  and ID
6. Box 16 Enter NC wages
7. Box 17 Enter NC state tax
8. Depending on your program, you will either click Add Another Row or there will be another row with drop down arrows.
9. Box 15 enter your correct, actual MN wages:
   1. hopefully page 1 and page 2 match on your w2, just enter that one correct number
   2. sometimes you add MN page 1 and MN page 2, maybe that gives you the correct wage
   3. If neither of these are true, contact your employer for your correct MN information to enter and a letter stating the real MN income.
10. Box 16-18 continue entering the correct MN information.

The program will carry these correct numbers into the state for you.

[akshayks]

Hi, thanks for the quick response. When I add up MN state wages from box-16 on page 1 and 2, it matches the total wages mentioned in box-1. If I add NC state wage to total MN wages, it is higher than box-1 amount. Alternately should I use the NC state wages for NC and then deduct this amount from box-1 and use the difference amount as MN state wages? In such case should I add up the MN state tax in box-17 from page-1 and page-2 to get around total tax paid for MN?

[AmyC]

Excellent answer! Now we know that MN is where you live and they are taxing the entire amount, which is correct. So, the full amount from box 1 goes into MN wages.

The NC wages are taxable to NC.

You must do  the NC state return first to calculate a NC tax liability.

Then do your MN return and it will generate a credit based on your NC return.