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February 19, 2025
Question

Live in Wisconsin & Work in Illinois

  • February 19, 2025
  • 1 reply
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I live in Wisconsin and worked in Illinois during 2024. I paid income tax to Wisconsin. However, I am filing my state returns - Illinois (NR) and Wisconsin - and noticing that I owe income tax to Illinois. I know that Illinois and Wisconsin are reciprocal states and I should only be paying income tax to the state I live in (WI). Why does TT indicate I owe income tax to IL? What am I doing wrong? Thank you in advance for your time and attention to this request.

1 reply

February 19, 2025

You don't need to file at all in Illinois. ‌The only reason you would need to file in Illinois when your only income is reciprocal W-2 wages, is if your employer withheld tax to that state and you needed a refund.

 

You will file just a Wisconsin return and report your wages as if you had earned them there.

 

If you accidentally bought 2 states, here is how to get a refund: How do I request a refund for my TurboTax product?

 

Here is more information on reciprocal states: What is a state reciprocal agreement?

 

IFoxHoleIAuthor
February 19, 2025

Hello Mindy, 

 

Thank you for the prompt response!

 

TT requires me to enter the W-2 wages from my Illinois employer. There is a section that asks "How much of the [earned wages] did you earn while working in Illinois?" Once I enter that information, which is all my W-2 wages for 2024, TT indicates that I owe the state of Illinois (in addition to an underpayment penalty).

 

This is where my confusion comes in. Is this a TT issue or am I entering something incorrectly along the way? If I am entering something incorrect, where could this be happening during the input process?

February 19, 2025

As MindyB mentioned, if you didn't have any IL taxes withheld on your W-2, you don't need to file IL return.

  1. Revisit your Personal Info /MY Info screen and scroll down to Other State Income
  2. Don't indicate you made money in another state. 
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