Question

w-2 box 15

Forum|Forum|5 months ago
January 15, 2026
1 reply
3 views

Each of the past three or four years, the W-2s generated by QuickBooks Desktop have added a second state line for the same state (Utah). One line has the correct gross wage amount and state tax withholding amount. The second line (actually, showing as the first line in Box 15) shows an amount between and 7 and 10% of each employee's state wages and reports no withholding amount.

In past years, as well as this year, I will edit each W-2 (fortunately there are only six) to remove the extra line.

It would be great if QuickBooks actually created accurate W-2s.

Let me know if you know of a solution.

Thanks

QuickBooks Desktop Payroll

K

Kurt_M

QuickBooks Team

Hello, @RG6.

An extra appears and is caused by a payroll item that has its Tax Tracking Type incorrectly mapped to "State Taxable Wage," but is not actually configured as your primary State Withholding item. When QuickBooks sees two different items mapped to the same tax category for the same state, it creates a second line in Box 15 to report the additional taxable wages, even if no tax was withheld from that specific item.

To fix this and prevent a second line from appearing in your future W-2s, you'll want to determine the payroll item that has an incorrect tax tracking type and map it correctly. To start, here's how:

Run a Payroll Detail Review report for the full year.
Look for a column or item where the total for each employee matches that 7–10% figure you’ve been seeing.
Note the exact name of that payroll item.

Once you've determined the root cause, proceed to correct the tax tracking type. Follow these steps:

Go to the Lists menu and select Payroll Item List.
Find the item you identified in Step 1.
Right-click it and select Edit Payroll Item.
Click Next until you reach the Tax Tracking Type screen.
If it is set to State Taxable Wage or something similar, this is the error.
Change it to the correct type. If it is a fringe benefit that shouldn't be reported separately in Box 16, change it to None or the appropriate benefit category.
Click Next through the rest of the windows and click Finish.

After fixing the item, the program may prompt you to update existing transactions. Select Yes or choose the date range for which you want the changes to apply. Once finished, return to the W-2 preparation screen and reload or clear the overrides to force QuickBooks to pull the updated data.

If the issue persists, I recommend contacting our Support Team, as they have the tools necessary to investigate this further. Please see this page for more details: Get help with QuickBooks products and services.

Please don't hesitate to click the Reply button if you have other questions about QuickBooks.

R

RG6Author

Thanks for the quick response.

I followed your instructions and found the item for each employee in the report. The Item Name is UT-Withholding{2} and has a single entry for the amount of the discrepancy for each employee. The date of each of the entries is January 16, 2025, which is the likely date that I processed W-2s for 2024. When I click on an entry, a Liability Adjustment screen opens. The fields on the screen are as follows:

The Date and Effective Date are both 1/16/25

The Employee name field shows the employee’s name for the entry.

The Item Name is UT-Withholding{2}

The Amount is 0.00.

The Wage Base and Income Subject to Tax fields show the amount that matches the extra amount showing on the employee’s W-2.

The Memo Field says Payroll Checkup.

There are three buttons to choose from – “OK”, “Cancel”, and “Accounts Affected”.

How should I proceed? I don’t want to create more errors/issues.

Thanks

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