My W-2 shows Delaware address but I lived & worked in Maryland and Virginia - what do I do for state taxes?

This is actually a pretty common situation and nothing to worry about! The address on your W-2 is just your employer's address, not necessarily where you lived or worked. What matters for state tax purposes is: 1) Where you physically worked (because you owe taxes to states where you earned income) 2) Where you lived (because as a resident, your state typically taxes all your income) In your case, you'll need to file: - A part-year Virginia nonresident return for the income earned while working in VA (January-May) - A Maryland resident return that reports all your income, but with a credit for taxes paid to Virginia You do NOT need to file in Delaware at all, even though the W-2 shows a DE address. The W-2 should still show the correct state in Box 15 for the state where taxes were withheld, which should be VA and MD respectively. When using TurboTax, you'll need to override its assumption about Delaware. There should be an option to indicate that you didn't work in Delaware despite the address on the W-2.

I had a similar issue last year with my employer being based in Texas but me working remotely from California. What saved me was using taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) to analyze my W-2s and paystubs. It helped identify exactly which states I needed to file in and explained the "state of employment" vs "state of withholding" difference that was confusing me. The tool actually looks at your documents and explains what each field means for your tax situation. It caught that my employer had the wrong state code in one box but the right withholding in another, which would have really messed up my returns if I hadn't caught it. You might want to give it a try with your W-2 situation since it sounds pretty similar to what I dealt with.

Just wanted to update - I tried taxr.ai with my complicated multi-state W-2 situation and it was seriously helpful! It specifically identified that I needed to file in both states where I physically worked, not where my employer was based. It even explained how the reciprocity agreements between my states would affect my filing (something I had no idea about). The document analysis showed me that even though my employer's address was in one state, the state withholding code in Box 15 correctly showed where I actually worked. Saved me from making a mistake that probably would have triggered letters from the state tax agencies. Definitely recommend for anyone with a weird W-2 situation like this!

If you're having trouble getting through to the state tax departments to verify how to handle this, Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) saved me HOURS of waiting on hold with the Maryland Comptroller's office. I had a similar issue where my employer reported my wages under the wrong state, and I couldn't get a straight answer from TurboTax. I was skeptical but used their service to get a callback from the MD tax office within 20 minutes instead of waiting on hold for 2+ hours. The agent confirmed exactly how to handle my return with the mismatched W-2 address. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. Worth it just for the stress reduction of actually talking to someone official rather than guessing or relying on forum advice.

I have to admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try it for myself since I also needed to ask the Maryland tax office about a similar employer address issue. Got a call back in about 15 minutes and spoke directly with a tax agent who explained that I only needed to file in states where I physically performed work, regardless of my employer's address. She also explained how to override TurboTax's default assumptions based on the W-2 address. Honestly shocked this actually worked. Would have spent my entire afternoon on hold otherwise. Never thought I'd say this but it was totally worth it just to get a definitive answer from an actual tax authority instead of guessing.

One thing nobody's mentioned yet is that your employer actually made a mistake here. Box 15 on your W-2 should show the state where you worked, not where the company is headquartered. If you have two W-2s, one should have VA in box 15 and the other should have MD. If they're both showing DE in box 15, you should contact your employer's payroll department and request corrected W-2s. Otherwise you might have issues with the states thinking you didn't pay proper taxes.

Dealt with this exact situation when I worked for a company based in New York but I worked remotely from Florida. My W-2 had the NY address but I never set foot in NY for work. The important thing is where you physically worked, not the address on the W-2. If your paystubs show state withholding for MD and VA, then those are the states you file in. Ignore the DE address completely. When you input your W-2 in TurboTax, there should be an option somewhere to indicate that you worked in a different state than what's listed on your W-2.

As someone who works in payroll administration, I can confirm what others have said - this is unfortunately very common. Many companies use their headquarters address on all W-2s regardless of where employees actually work, which creates confusion. The key thing to remember is that state tax obligations follow the "source rule" - you owe taxes where you earned the income, not where your employer is located. Since you physically worked in VA for part of the year and MD for part of the year, those are your filing states. A few practical tips for your situation: - When TurboTax asks about your work location, override what it assumes from the W-2 address - Make sure your state withholding amounts (Box 17) match what was actually taken from your paychecks - Keep copies of your paystubs as backup documentation in case either state questions your filing You're absolutely right to be careful about this - getting it wrong can result in penalties or having to file amendments later. But don't stress too much - the states deal with these employer address mismatches all the time and your situation is straightforward once you know the rules.