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New Member
posted Jun 3, 2019 1:26:12 PM

TurboxTax stops me from submitting CA returns complaining I have duplicate state abbreviations on Form-W2.

I have 2 different employers, they both in California, and they both use the same payroll admin (Trinet). I only received a single W2-Form from Trinet, and in Box 15 to 19 (State related information), they put 2 rows in each box (one for each of my employer.  See attached image). Therefore Box 15 have duplicate CA on it.

How can I proceed with filing my State returns?

2 9 5378
1 Best answer
New Member
Jun 3, 2019 1:26:13 PM

If you have two CA entries in Box 15 to 19, add each box to enter only one CA line. Be sure to delete your second row.

9 Replies
New Member
Jun 3, 2019 1:26:13 PM

If you have two CA entries in Box 15 to 19, add each box to enter only one CA line. Be sure to delete your second row.

New Member
Jun 3, 2019 1:26:14 PM

Which employee ID should be on the "one" CA line?

New Member
Jun 3, 2019 1:26:15 PM

I have the same question as @oussamakhoury - Doesn't make sense to combine the incomes if the money came from two different employers. ?

New Member
Jun 3, 2019 1:26:18 PM

Agreed- I am not sure it makes sense to delete the second row since we had two different employees this year. Who can help us resolve this?

New Member
Jun 3, 2019 1:26:21 PM

After an hour and a half with turbo tax and their support team we finally figured it out. I deleted the second row of box 15-19 in the original W-2 and created a second W-2 containing just that second row. In order for TurboTax to accept this second W-2, you have to put $1.00 of income in box 1. So I went back to the original W-2 that now only contained the first line of box 15-19 and reduced box 1 by $1.00 so that my income being claimed overall is still the same. You don’t need to change any of the other boxes other than the ones I’ve listed here.

*side note* - when creating the second W-2 you will still use the employee ID number you used in your first W-2 and just “skip” the option to download the W-2.

Hope this helps everyone!!!

New Member
Jun 3, 2019 1:26:22 PM

Thank you so much @ashleeh1 , this is really helpful.

New Member
Feb 9, 2020 3:03:51 PM

I am trying to file my taxes but it wont let me finish them because i have a duplicate CA abreviation on my W2 any suggestions 

New Member
Mar 29, 2020 6:05:43 PM

Thanks for this @ashleeh1 !
When I followed these directions this year TurboTax prompted me to add some extra info to the 'new' w2 form during the review process, (employer id and address etc). I was able to submit the forms after that!

New Member
Jul 15, 2020 3:10:57 PM

Thank you so much for this @ashleeh1  this post saved me today while filing last minute.