So I work in Tennessee, but I live in Mississippi. I’m filling out my tax return and on my W-2, box 15 is blank but the state ID says “TOTAL STATE”. Box 16 is blank and box 17 has a monetary value. It’s telling me that I need to fill out box 15, but since I worked in Tennessee, it won’t allow me to select that state because there’s no state tax in Tennessee. However, i don’t think it will let me leave it blank. Do I put Mississippi because I live in Mississippi? Or what do I do here

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Shyanneorton15

Level 2

Question

State and State ID question

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
February 11, 2025
1 reply
1 view

So I work in Tennessee, but I live in Mississippi. I’m filling out my tax return and on my W-2, box 15 is blank but the state ID says “TOTAL STATE”. Box 16 is blank and box 17 has a monetary value. It’s telling me that I need to fill out box 15, but since I worked in Tennessee, it won’t allow me to select that state because there’s no state tax in Tennessee. However, i don’t think it will let me leave it blank. Do I put Mississippi because I live in Mississippi? Or what do I do here

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SusanY1

Level 15

Since there is a value in Box 17, it sounds like your employer withheld state taxes on your behalf. These would have likely been Mississippi taxes, since that is your residence. I would select MS for box 15 and I would also confirm this with your employer to be sure.

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Shyanneorton15Author

Level 2

All right not sure if you can help with this or not but… that information above was based off of my “employee reference copy”. Empty box 15 & state id is “total state” and box 17 had $$. Now, On my Mississippi State reference copy, box 15 is filled out and I have the ID number and box 17 has a different $ number. I’m assuming I would fill out that information and not the above maybe? But do I do anything with the first $ in box 17 or do I strictly use Mississippi’s income number?

KeshaH

Level 11

You would enter the W-2 as is on the second copy you have with the Mississippi wages and tax withheld. Even with your W-2 showing a different amount of wages, all of your income should roll over to your Mississippi return if you lived in Mississippi for the full year.

You can confirm with your employer that you aren't missing another copy of your W-2 with additional information.