Does Box 15 on a W2 show the state in which income was earned or the state to which taxes were paid?

Question

I live in CT and work in NY. Last year, I worked for two difft NY companies. Company A sent me a W2 that lists NY in box 15 of Copy B. Company B has sent me two Copy B's, one for NY and one for CT -- box 17 shows the same income on both Copy B's but box 18 is zero for CT and non-zero for NY. Also, boxes 1-14 are empty on the Copy B that lists NY but correct (non-zero) on the one that lists NY.

Answer 1

Both jobs only withheld NY taxes. You need to file a CT resident tax return and a NY IT-203 as a non-resident. You need to report your wages on both tax returns. However, you will get a credit on your CT tax return for the tax you paid to NY, so that your income is not taxed in both states.

Answer 2

Connecticut only has a capital gains and dividends income tax. There is no tax on W-2 earnings.

The income you earned as a non-resident in New York is subject to the Non-Resident Tax in New York. The withholding that appears is for the NY non-resident tax return, which you can apply to your non-resident tax.

Box 15 shows what you earned in New York and what was paid for NY on your behalf.

You will not be getting a credit for CT purposes for the tax you pay in NY because CT does not have an income tax.

Answer 3

CT DOES have income tax on wages. In fact, CT is one of only a few states that will asses a penalty for failure to file even when a refund is due if there were CT with holding on the W-2.

I live in MA and have been doing taxes, including CT state returns for 16 years.

Answer 4

Box 15 is the state the wages were reported too.
Box 16 is the wages reported
Box 17 is the state wages withheld

Answer 5

If you lived in one state and worked in another, you should receive a W-2 for each state. The state listed on each W-2 is the state to which taxes shown on that W-2 were paid. At least that's how local taxes are reported on my W-2.

Answer 6

The state the taxes were paid to.