The state ID on Tax Payments Worksheet Line 22 is your employer’s state withholding account number, taken from Box 15 of your W-2 (or the state-ID box on a 1099). Your tax software uses it to tie the state taxes withheld from your paycheck to the correct state revenue department when it builds your state return. It is not a line on any IRS form you file; it is an internal field inside programs like TurboTax that has to be populated before the software will let you move on.
What Line 22 Is Actually Asking For
Tax software generates worksheets behind the scenes to organize the numbers flowing into your return. The “Tax Payments Worksheet” is one of them, and Line 22 is the slot that holds the state or local employer identification number. Fill it in and the software matches your withholding to the right jurisdiction. Leave it blank, and validation stops you.
The state employer ID is assigned by a state’s revenue department when a business registers to withhold income tax from wages. It is not the same as the federal Employer Identification Number in Box b of your W-2. The federal EIN is always nine digits in the format XX-XXXXXXX. State IDs vary in length and format from state to state, and some include letters. Swapping one for the other in your software is one of the most common triggers for an e-file rejection, because the entry fails format validation right away.
Where to Find the Number on Your Forms
The number lives on whatever income document reported the state withholding. Which box depends on the form.
- Form W-2, Box 15. The most common source. Box 15 shows the two-letter state abbreviation followed by the employer’s state ID. If you worked in more than one state, a second state and ID may appear alongside the first or on an additional W-2 copy. The IRS instructs employers to enter the abbreviated state name and the identification number assigned by that state in this box.1Internal Revenue Service. 2026 General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3
- Form 1099-R, Box 15. Retirement distributions report the payer’s state identification number in Box 15. Box 13 on the 1099-R is used for a different purpose and is not the state ID.2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498
- Form 1099-G, Boxes 10a–11. Unemployment compensation and state tax refunds report the payer’s state ID in the state-reporting boxes near the bottom of the form.3Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-G
- Form 1099-INT, Boxes 15–17. Interest income with state tax withheld reports the payer’s state ID in the state information section.4Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-INT and 1099-OID
On each of these forms the state abbreviation and the numeric ID sit together. Copy only the number portion into Line 22. The two-letter abbreviation goes in the separate state field the software provides.
How to Enter It Correctly
Formatting trips people up more than the math ever does. Tax software validates the state ID against each state’s format rules, so an extra hyphen or a stray space can flag the entry even when the number itself is right.
- Enter digits and any letters exactly as they appear on your W-2 or 1099. Do not add or remove hyphens unless the software’s input mask forces a specific format.
- Keep the state abbreviation out of the ID field. Your software has a separate dropdown or field for it.
- If you have withholding from more than one state, add a separate entry for each. Your W-2 may show two states side by side in Box 15, divided by a broken line.
- If the software is asking for a local ID rather than a state ID, that number comes from Boxes 18–20 of your W-2, not Box 15. Local income taxes with their own IDs are common in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and a handful of other states.
Once you enter the state ID, the software expects the matching state tax withheld amount from Box 17 of your W-2 or the equivalent box on your 1099. If the ID and the withheld amount don’t both appear, the entry usually flags as incomplete.
What to Do When Box 15 Is Blank or the Number Is Wrong
A blank Box 15 happens more often than you’d expect, and it can stall your return entirely. Work through the following in order.
Check your pay stubs first. Many employers print the state withholding account number on every stub, and it’s the same number that belongs in Box 15. Confirm the state abbreviation on the stub matches the state tax withheld on your W-2, then enter it.
If the stubs don’t help, contact your employer’s payroll department. They are required to provide complete W-2 information, and a quick call or email usually produces the number within a day or two. For companies using payroll processors like ADP or Paychex, you can often log into the payroll portal and find the state registration number in the tax documents section.
If your employer is unresponsive, call your state’s department of revenue. Give them the company name and the federal EIN from Box b, and many state agencies can look up the employer’s state withholding ID on their end.
If none of those routes work and the deadline is closing in, there is a formal IRS process. After trying to get a corrected W-2 from your employer, you can call the IRS at 800-829-1040. The IRS will send your employer a letter asking them to furnish a corrected form within ten days.5Internal Revenue Service. W-2 – Additional, Incorrect, Lost, Non-Receipt, Omitted As a last resort you can file Form 4852 as a substitute for your W-2, using pay stubs and other records to estimate the figures. Keep documentation of every attempt you made to get the real number, because the IRS may ask for it later.
When Your State Has No Income Tax
If you live and work in a state that doesn’t levy an individual income tax, Box 15 on your W-2 will be blank by design. Nine states fall in this group: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. New Hampshire and Washington tax certain investment income but not wages, so most W-2 earners in those states still see an empty Box 15.
You have nothing to enter for Line 22 in that case. If your software is still demanding a value, look at your other income documents. Usually a 1099 with state withholding from a different state is pulling the field into your worksheet, and the entry belongs on that form’s line, not on the empty W-2.
Numbers on Your W-2 That Aren’t the State ID
Several identifiers on the W-2 look similar at a glance, and mixing them up is the fastest way to a rejection.
- Federal EIN in Box b: nine digits, XX-XXXXXXX format, identifies the employer to the IRS. Not for state reporting.
- Your Social Security number in Box a: your personal identifier. Easy to accidentally transpose digits when typing.
- State ID in Box 15: the employer’s account number with the state revenue department. Format varies by state and may include letters. This is what goes on Line 22.
- Local ID in Box 20: the employer’s registration number for a local income tax, only relevant if your software specifically asks for a local ID.
A quick sanity check: the federal EIN always has exactly nine digits with a hyphen after the first two. State IDs rarely match that pattern. If the number in Box 15 looks like a federal EIN, confirm the form printer didn’t accidentally duplicate the federal number into the state field before you enter it.