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New Member
posted Jun 4, 2019 1:55:40 PM

Can I get support about state and zip code in my W2 before efile ?

Such address is a foreign one in the W2 document

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1 Replies
New Member
Jun 4, 2019 1:55:42 PM

Receiving a W-2 from a non-US employer, or one that has a foreign return address listed on it, can be a bit of a problem; but fortunately there is also a choice of solutions for you.  Please allow us a moment to explain.

The only truly critical information on your W-2 (that the IRS looks to see, anyway) is your Social Security Number, your employer's 9-digit Employer Identification Number (EIN), and your actual wage data.  The rest of the information shown there is not really critical, or essential, to the accurate acceptance and processing of your tax return.  Yet, for reasons of completeness, the TurboTax program asks users to fill in all of the fields from their W-2.

When there is a foreign employer, or a foreign address involved, you can see that this sometimes becomes an issue.  As for solutions, then, you have a couple of them.

Does your employer have an office or divisional headquarters anywhere in the United States?  If so, then you can safely substitute and use that address (even if something different is printed on your actual W-2 . . . just don't change the EIN).  Alternatively, you can just input your own street address, including state and ZIP code, into the W-2 address field.  As long as your employer's EIN is correct, the IRS, and anyone else such as a state department of revenue, will know what the truth is.

Thus, either of those choices is an acceptable way to enter your W-2, and file your tax return.  The TurboTax program, the IRS, and your state department of revenue (if applicable) will all accept this; and the ZIP code will "match" that range of ZIP codes for your state.

One final word of caution is indicated, however.  When you have an issue such as this, please don't try to electronically "import" your W-2; instead, simply enter your data manually, by hand.  Doing so will avoid the creation of any additional problems.

If you've already input a W-2, and received an error of some kind related to the ZIP code data, then it's a good idea to delete the entire W-2 entry in the program, and then re-enter the W-2 from scratch, this time with an "acceptable" (to the software and the IRS) ZIP code.

Thank you for asking this important question.