This year Turbo Tax does not accept Box 18 Local wages & tips being blank when Box 19 is non zero. Was never an issue for past 25 years. What do i do? Thx

[tax128]

I am in the same situation, box 18 is empty but boxes 1 and 16 have different amounts. To confirm, I should enter the amount in box 16? I am in NJ. 

[MonikaK1]

If there is a dollar amount in Box 19, Local Income Tax, TurboTax will expect there to be an amount in Box 18, Local wages, tips, etc.  There should also be an entry in Box 20, Locality name. If your employer left Box 18 blank, and all of your income was earned in the same locality, then the amount from Box 1 / Box 16 would normally be repeated in Box 18. If you have a question as to how your Local Income Tax was determined, ask your employer or payroll office. If there is an error, they may need to issue you a corrected W-2.

If you have local taxes, you may have wages that are taxable by more than one locality (such as a city or school district). You can add another line for Boxes 18 through 20 by clicking the "+Add another locality" button that appears below Boxes 18 through 20.

See this TurboTax tips article for more information about Form W-2.

See this help article for more information about city taxes supported by TurboTax.

@tax128 

@johnmelissaski 

@nunheimerk 

@jegesja 

[tax128]

Last year, I had the same situation on my W2 and this issue did not come up then. How can that be?

[BillM223]

tax128

The state wages (box 16) is often different from box 1 (federal wages) because NJ does not allow some of the exclusions that are allowed on the federal return. For example, NJ does not allow HSA contributions, most retirement plan contributions (except for a 401(k), and most Section 125 cafeteria plan exclusions.

Box 18 would have an entry if your employer withheld for a city tax in New Jersey - did that happen?

As for how it is possible for you to get different messages for different years, the error checks can be updated from year to year, depending on the need.  

@tax128