Need to file state taxes when you live and work in different states?
Most people in the U.S. live and work in the same state, which makes state taxes pretty easy to understand – you pay taxes to the state where you live and work.
But what if you live in one state and work in another? Do you pay taxes to the state where you live? Where you earn an income? Both?!
You need to pay taxes to both. Most likely you will end up having to file a resident return in the state where you live and a nonresident return in the state where you work.
Resident return
Generally you need to file a resident return in the state where you are a permanent resident. This state has the right to tax ALL of your income, wherever it was earned.
Nonresident return
After you file your resident return in your home state, you then need to go about filing a nonresident return in every other state where you earned money. A nonresident return only taxes you on the money you earned in that state. What often happens is that you withhold some income for each state tax.
Let’s take a real-world example.
Let’s say you live in New Jersey and commute to your NYC job Monday through Friday. Come tax time, you would need to file a resident return in NJ (reporting all of your income) and a nonresident return in NY (reporting only the income you earned in NY).
Worried about being double-taxed? Don’t be. You will have an opportunity to claim a credit for taxes paid to the nonresident state. They will then divide whatever has been withheld between them and the state whose tax liability was not exactly met will either give you a refund or a tax bill.
States without an income tax
There’s always an exception to the rule. In this case, there are seven exceptions. The five states with no income tax and the two states that only tax interest and dividends are the exclusions:
- Alaska
- Florida
- Nevada
- South Dakota
- Texas
- Washington
- Wyoming
- Tennessee
- New Hampshire
If you live in one of these states, you don’t need to file a resident return (unless you live in TN or NH and have interest and dividends income). But if you work in a state that does have an income tax you have to file a nonresident return in that state.
The same holds true when the situation is reversed. If you live in a state with an income tax, you must file a resident return there. But if you work in a state without an income tax, you don’t have to worry about filing a nonresident return.
Sound complicated? There’s a reason for that: it is. But let’s not stress because here’s all you really need to know. For this to work, every state needs to make agreements with every other state covering the income they could both theoretically tax. These agreements are structured to generate a minimum amount of paperwork and special cases: instead of having some workers who lives in a state but doesn’t pay taxes, the states have someone who lives in the state and pays taxes like everyone else — but gets a special tax credit at the end of the year.
In a situation like this, it’s often best to talk to your payroll department about how to proceed. In places with many out-of-state commuters (like New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, as well as cities near state borders), they will have the details on how each state treats out-of-state income.
Even if you have to file multiple state tax returns you can take care of them right here on RapidTax.
I own a home in NY state but work in Texas. Texas has no state income tax. NY does, Im here in Texas more than 6 mos out of the year. I have an apt here with a lease and going to switch my car and DL to Texas. Can I have my employer stop taking state tax from my check. My wife doesn’t work and we earn NO money in NYS.
Hi Tom,
Being from NY myself, I see where your coming from as NY can be pricey!
Taxes are withheld from the state you are a resident of and the state where you earn an income. That being said, once you DO update all of your information to reflect your Texas address and are considered to be a resident, NY will have no business withholding from your paychecks any longer.
I am a resident of Rhode Island. I am employed by a national company with an office in RI and work from that office five months a year. We own a home in Florida where we spend seven months a year and I work from that home for the same company while in Florida. Am I liable to pay 12 months of Rhode Island income taxes or just the five months I actually spend working there?
I am currently a legal resident of California but I am about to take a new job with a company that ships goods and supplies our Navy overseas. As a sailor I will not be living in California and don’t want to have to pay for California State income taxes if I don’t ever reside in the state. Do you know of any options or things I could do to avoid paying these taxes. I am finding it very difficult to become a resident of another state that does not have state income tax without an address in that state.
Hi Patrick,
When withholding taxes, you are responsible for the state in which you are domiciled (where you consider to be a permanent home) and the state in which you earn an income. Therefore, you would need to file a state resident return for California.
My advice to you would be to see about moving your permanent residence to a state with no income tax. These include Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Tennessee and New Hampshire only tax dividend and interest income so they would be worth looking into as well. You will need to declare this as your permanent residence and will most likely need a permanent address to do so.
My husband recently accepted a job in Dallas. He is working there Mon-Fri and so living there during that time in an apartment. My kids and I are in Colorado. Is there a way to not pay CO taxes since he is living in Texas now and they have no state tax?
Hi Sophia,
Congratulations to your husband on the new job!
Living in different states and filing a joint tax return can be a bit tricky. What most don’t realize, though, is that married couples can file a joint federal return and separate state tax returns. That being said, your husband can file a joint federal tax return with you and he won’t need to file a state return since Texas is income tax-free. You will still need to file a separate Colorado resident state return to report any income that you earned along with the joint federal return. Your husband will need to update his W-4 to only reflect his new Texas apartment address. Your W-4 form will reflect your home in Colorado. On your joint federal return, a combination of all income will be reported.
Hello! My husband will be working full time in Illinois, but we will be living in Indiana. We are concerned about being double taxed. We can’t afford to have twice the state income tax withheld. Would his employer just withhold one state’s and then we file a resident and non resident when the time comes, or will he be double taxed and then we try to get some money back when we file? I have read that we should be able to claim the resident paid taxes in the non resident state, but what are the chances we won’t be able to claim them? Would we then owe double taxes? Thanks for your time!
Hi Amanda,
Taxes will typically be withheld from the state where you reside and the state where you earn an income. You can take a look at your pay stubs to see where taxes are being withheld to see if this applies to you. When you receive your W-2 form from your employer at the end of the year, the information that you had been seeing on your pay stubs each time you received a paycheck from your employer will be reflected in box 15. Along with your federal tax return, you will need to file a resident state return for Indiana and IF you see Illinois in box 15 of your W-2, then you will need to file a non-resident state return, reporting what you earned. If too much is withheld throughout the year for either states or federal, than it could very well result in a refund for you!