Issue/Symptom/Question

There are two employees that have worked in multiple states, one of them being New York. When payroll printed their W-2, the incorrect amount was printed in box 16 for NY.  Instead of printing their NY earnings, it printed their total earning among all states.

Applies To

W2 Generation for states

Resolution/Fix/Answer

In New York, they don’t report the total wages earned in New York State, they report the total Federal wages from Box 1 in the state wage Box 16.

So, even if only 2 weeks of your yearly wage was in New York, Box 16 will show whatever is in Box 1, and if you have another state along with New York when both wage amounts from Box 16 are added together you could potentially have more than your federal wages in Box 1.

Does this mean you're being double taxed on those wages?

No. When filing your personal tax return in New York there is a section to explain if any of the wages you made were out of the state and how much of the wage was made in New York. This allows the state to figure out just how much wage was actually made in New York and how much tax should have been paid.

If you want to see the proof for yourself you can find the information in Publication NY-50 on page 33 under heading “Employee Requirements Concerning the Reporting of New York State Wages."