Zip code not valid for state entered on Form W-2

[AmandaYawn]

When I try to file, I'm told that I need to review an entry in my W-2. I get prompted that I must enter either a country or a state and zip, which are foreign and in fact present in my printed W-2. I'd have to edit the foreign boxes (province, postal code and country), however they're disabled and I'm only able to edit the state and zip code boxes. That would be wrong though, since Mexico City doesn't have an official USPS code and my zip code isn't accepted because the state isn't being recognised.

Also, my two last names are getting split into M.I. and last? That isn't right.

Lastly, I was shown a message earlier that I had to file another document because of my foreign address, however that option disappeared and I can't find anywhere to add that other document.

[BillM223 · Accepted solution]

W-2: Did you auto-import your W-2? You should almost certainly type it in by hand.

If you entered it by hand, on the screen that contains all the entries for the W-2, be sure to change Address Type to "foreign address" before you do anything else.

If you are not sure what you did or if you can't even see a box for "Province or State" (which shows only if you clicked on "foreign address"), then delete the W-2 and start over, this time entering it by hand and choosing foreign address first.

Last names: The IRS is not conversant with the Hispanic practice of using both parents' names as last names. The IRS gets the names for taxpayers from the Social Security Administration (SSA). Therefore, whatever you indicate is your last name needs to be whatever the SSA thinks is your last name. Otherwise, when the IRS checks your last name against their list, if you have the "wrong" last name on the tax return, the IRS will reject the return. It is somewhat unpredictable which name of the two parents' names the SSA will consider your "last name".

This is normally easy to solve, in that you put the other last name first, and try to e-file again. Yes, this means that you put both names as your last name on the return.

Other message: I am not familiar with this other message. Perhaps when you make the changes above, the message will not reappear because you may not need it.

[AmandaYawn]

Entering it by hand did the trick for both my address and my name, thank you!

[Erik_W]

Also, when importing a W-2, be sure to verify the employee info as it is not shown by default in TT 2024. Edit the W-2 entry and click "Show employee info" at the bottom of the first screen to see it:

This is where I finally found the mistake which was causing TT to give this error. It was initially confusing because when TT displayed the error it showed the top of the W-2 form which only contains the address of the employer. That caused me to think the error was in the employer's address and I got stuck on that for a while. But once I had scrolled through the rest of the form I immediately saw the mistake in the employee address section.