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Returning Member
posted Apr 6, 2025 10:11:38 AM

NJ Teacher - How I enter my income from BOX 1 to BOX 16 Which is diffrent

I am teacher in NJ and my W2 has low income $100k on Box one and $120k on Box 16. When I validate my return on Turbo Tax I get error. How to fix this issue where I report what shows on W2 and validate my return. Please help.

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3 Replies
Expert Alumni
Apr 6, 2025 10:14:02 AM

What error are you getting (can you be more specific)?  New Jersey taxes income that is not taxable at the federal level which is why the Box 1 and Box 16 amounts do not match.  

Returning Member
Apr 9, 2025 11:37:01 AM

Error is Box 1 Salary is ex: 100k but box 16 is 120k. Error is coming in NJ tax where it's not accepting 120k income. It's asking me to go with 100k. 

What income to report or how to fix this error.

Expert Alumni
Apr 14, 2025 9:07:46 AM

It is normal that for NJ, box 16 is a larger amount than box 1, because NJ does not allow a number of excluded amounts from the federal return (examples are HSA contributions, most retirement plan contributions except for 401(k), and other section 125/cafeteria exclusions).

 

You say that the NJ return is not accepting the $120k income amount. Is there an error message? How do you know it is not "accepting" that amount?