Training Home – Understanding Taxes – W2 Discussion

Preparing the Utah Individual Income Tax Return

Lesson 2: W-2 Discussion

Every employer is required to have a Utah withholding license number that should be entered in block 15 of each W-2 the employer completes.

The employer withholding license number is a required field for individuals and your return cannot be filed electronically without this license number.

If the employer fails to enter the Utah withholding license number on the form, the recipient of the W-2 must contact the employer to obtain this number.

The following illustration identifies each block of information you need to complete your Utah individual income tax return:

Box 15 State and Employer's state ID Number

This block is in the lower left corner of the form. The two letter state code is entered in this block. A Utah employer will enter UT and the employer withholding license number is entered to the right. The number will start with a letter V, Y, W, or Z followed by five digits, e.g. Z12345; or may begin with two alpha characters followed by four digits.

Box 16 State wages, tips, etc.

This will show the amount of your Utah wages for the year. The amount normally will be the same as box 1.

Box 17 State income tax

This amount is the state income tax withheld from your paycheck by your employer. The amounts withheld from your wages by your employer are pre-payments of income taxes and are a credit toward any tax due on your state return. The amount shown is entered on line 27 of TC-40, Utah Tax Withheld.