How do I report a second W-2 for a state I earned no money in, in 2020?

[Kiwishi]

So at the end of 2019 as I was preparing for a move, I was able to transfer stores in the same company from Virginia to Idaho. My last pay in VA was in mid-December 2019 and I started working at the new location in ID in early-mid January 2020, so I made no money in VA in 2020.

What's strange to me is that I got sent a W-2 from the VA location as well as from the ID location. The ID W-2 is complete with the usual information but the VA W-2 is mostly empty, including Box 1-6. Box 15-17 contain the VA location's information however. Box 16 has the exact state wage information from my time working at the ID location and Box 17 has the VA state income tax information.

I have seen so far on other threads here that you are supposed to input everything from Box 15-17 in another line and I found how to do that, but my question/concern is that, I did not earn any money in VA at all during all of 2020 and the VA W-2 seems to be my ID income in Box 16 but it seems that I still had income tax in Box 17. What do I do for that? Do I input the income from the VA W-2 as well even though it's actually my ID income with VA state income tax? Again, this is from the same company - which I am no longer at because of COVID.

[MaryK4]

If you had Virginia state tax withholding (Box 17), it was most likely a company error and you would have to file a VA nonresident return to get the money refunded. 

When you file the Virginia return, indicate that there was no (0) Virginia income.  

[Kiwishi]

Thank you, may I ask how I go about doing that?

[ToddL99]

If your W-2 showed VA income and VA tax withheld, the TurboTax program will prompt you to prepare a VA tax return.

If you want a refund of the VA tax withheld, follow the program's prompts to prepare the VA return - in the income allocation screen of the VA tax program, simply show that you had "0" VA income..

Depending on how much tax was withheld, you may not want to file a VA return - you will have to pay an additional fee for the VA tax return program and a fee to e-file it. I

f the refund will be less than the additional cost to file in VA, then it won't make sense to do so - VA will just keep what was withheld and both of you will benefit.

[Kiwishi]

Thank you! Just to make sure, do you mean that I type $0 in the Box 16 area or type what it says on the W-2 for Box 16 for it to later prompt a VA return?

[ErnieS0 · Accepted solution]

You don't need to adjust your W-2 info in TurboTax. Just file Virginia Form 763-S, Taxpayer Claim for Income Tax Withheld.

• Go to the Virginia section.
• TurboTax will ask "Did you make money in Virginia in 2020, but never live there?" Say YES.
• On "Tell us more about your 2020 Virginia income," select "My employer mistakenly withheld Virginia from my income."
• Check the VA Refund box. It should be the same amount as the VA tax withheld.

[Kiwishi]

I do have hopefully one last question.

I am up to the state section of filing. Because of this situation, never living or working in VA for all of 2020, do I have to input anything for this section? And if so, would "Double-Taxed Income" be Box 16, and "Income Tax Due" be Box 17?

"Tax paid to Virginia

Enter the following amounts for income you earned while an Idaho resident that were taxed by both Virginia and Idaho

Total Double-Taxed Income: [   ]

Income Tax Due and Paid to Virginia: [   ]"

[Kiwishi]

@ErnieS0  Would you happen to know the answer to this? I hit another snag

I am up to the state section of filing. Because of this situation, never living or working in VA for all of 2020, do I have to input anything for this section? And if so, would "Double-Taxed Income" be Box 16, and "Income Tax Due" be Box 17?

"Tax paid to Virginia

Enter the following amounts for income you earned while an Idaho resident that were taxed by both Virginia and Idaho

Total Double-Taxed Income: [   ]

Income Tax Due and Paid to Virginia: [   ]"

[Kiwishi]

I am up to the state section of filing. Because of this situation, never living or working in VA for all of 2020, do I have to input anything for this section? And if so, would "Double-Taxed Income" be Box 16, and "Income Tax Due" be Box 17?

"Tax paid to Virginia

Enter the following amounts for income you earned while an Idaho resident that were taxed by both Virginia and Idaho

Total Double-Taxed Income: [   ]

Income Tax Due and Paid to Virginia: [   ]"

[ErnieS0]

Hi @Kiwishi. You should not have any double-taxed income if you are getting the entire withholding amount back from Virginia. There is no double-taxed income or credit for tax paid to VA.

Idaho starts with federal adjusted gross income so your state wages (ID and VA) should not be doubled up on Form 40.

Check your VA refund box. The VA refund should be the entire amount of VA tax withheld.