W-2 showing income in my home state, where I did not work

[mace22]

(For some reason my first attempt at this was marked as spam and taken down, so I'm trying again.)

I worked for several companies in multiple states last year, so I have 3 W-2's to file (travel healthcare is complicated). My question is about just one of them - company B.

Working for company B, I completed contracts in both West Virginia and Louisiana. My "home state" is Alabama, where I haven't earned any money. All of these are states that charge state income tax. My W-2 from Company B shows a total wage in box 1 of about $1100. In Boxes 15 and 16, I'm showing state wages of the same $1100 for Alabama and $9000 for West Virginia.  Again, I didn't work in Alabama. I did earn money in Louisiana (though not much - I was only there for 2 weeks covering another employee's vacation - in case that's relevant) but that's not reflected on my W-2. There's only withholding reported for West Virginia.

My question is whether this could possibly be correct? I understand that I am responsible for reporting all of my income to my state of residence (and paying applicable taxes minus credits for other states), but shouldn't my W-2 show only states where I actually earned income? My other W-2s from Companies A and C show only taxable wages for the states I worked in, not my home state.

[mace22]

Working for company B, I completed contracts in both West Virginia and Louisiana. My "home state" is Alabama, where I haven't earned any money. All of these are states that charge state income tax. My W-2 from Company B shows a total wage in box 1 of about $1100. In Boxes 15 and 16, I'm showing state wages of the same $1100 for Alabama and $9000 for West Virginia.  Again, I didn't work in Alabama. I did earn money in Louisiana (though not much - I was only there for 2 weeks covering another employee's vacation - in case that's relevant) but that's not reflected on my W-2. There's only withholding reported for West Virginia.

My question is whether this could possibly be correct? I understand that I am responsible for reporting all of my income to my state of residence (and paying applicable taxes minus credits for other states), but shouldn't my W-2 show only states where I actually earned income? My other W-2s from Companies A and C show only taxable wages for the states I worked in, not my home state.

[MaryK4]

Yes, this is most irregular, especially since the West Virginia amount is much more than the total you made.  Is there a state tax withheld for West Virginia?  I would tend to say just leave the West Virginia off for filing your taxes, but I would also contact the company because the information on the W2 also goes to the IRS and the states so you do not want West Virginia thinking you made money there- the company would have to correct the record with West Virginia.

Also, it does not happen often, but especially with these multiple state companies, they simply have a typo on the W2.