Why am I paying state taxes for a state I'm not a resident of? Why am I not getting my tax return?

I had the w-2 information transferred into turbo tax for 2020.  I live in Tennessee but work in Mississippi.  It is not showing Mississippi as the State tax.  It's showing Tennessee.  What do I need to do.

 

You may need to get a corrected W-2 if your W-2 shows TN tax being taken out.  I am not sure if that is what you mean or not.   What does your W-2 show for state taxes?   In your situation, you may or may not have to file a TN return, but you do have to file a Mississippi non-resident return for the income you earned while working in MS.    There are a couple of things you need to do to get the MS non-resident return to show up.   

 

Once you've determined that you need to file a nonresident state return, the first thing you want to do is make sure you've filled out the Personal Info section correctly:

1. With your return open, select My Info in the left-hand menu.
2. Then, on the Personal info summary screen, scroll down to Other State Income, and select Edit.
3. At the Did you make money in any other states? question, answer Yes, and make sure your nonresident state(s) are selected from the drop-down.
4. Select Continue to return to your Personal info summary.

After you finish your federal return, you'll automatically move to the State tab, where you'll see your nonresident state(s) listed in addition to your resident state.

 

Tip: To ensure accurate calculations, always complete the non-resident return first if filing in multiple states because your resident state might give you a credit for any taxes paid in that situation.

Also:

• Select the long-form (if the option is available) even if TurboTax defaults to the short form.
• Only report the income attributable to the nonresident state.
• If preparing a nonresident return solely to recover erroneous tax withholdings, enter 0 on the screen that asks for the amount of income earned in that state. This will eliminate your tax liability for that state, resulting in a full refund.

There will be an arrow up top, next to TN that you can click on to see the MS return.   Only one state shows, even if you have 5 state returns in your tax return.   @mama18