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 am a Mass resident working for a Mass company. I work from my Florida vacation home remotely in the winter. Do I have to pay Mass income tax on the three months income I earn when working from Florida?
Hi Steve,
You are responsible for taxes in your resident state and the state in which you physically work and earn an income. Since you are still a Massachusetts resident even when working from Florida, you will be responsible for Massachusetts resident tax on your income for those three months.
I am planning to live and have a house in texas but currently work and will continue to work in New mexico with income tax .
Shall I have to continue to pay high property tax in Tx and high income tax in NM as well ?
Hi Ky Lee,
As far as income taxes go, you are responsible for taxes in the states where you physically work and reside. Texas is income tax-free so you are in luck there. Property taxes apply to your residence. These two taxes do not necessarily affect the one another directly. In order to reduce your tax liability, I do suggest looking into credits and deductions that apply to you. Tax credits are great because they directly reduce your liability dollar for dollar.
I moved to Texas for work after I graduated. However, since I still have temporary living arrangements I still use my mom’s home address in Louisiana, the one that is on my drivers license. how should I be doing my state tax.
Hi DaShay,
Congratulations on graduating! You will first need to determine your residency and if you are considered a resident of Texas or Louisiana. Each state has slightly different guidelines for determining this. You can find the guidelines for LA on their website HERE and the guidelines for TX HERE. This will mostly depend on the amount of time you have lived in Texas and your intent to stay there. If you are considered to be a resident of Louisiana, then you will file a resident state tax return along with your federal tax return. You will not need to file a state return for Texas (resident or not) since there it is income tax-free.
I am a MN resident who worked 100% out of state in PA and AZ. My employer (based in IN) only withheld state taxes for MN. It sounds like I will have to file non-resident returns for PA and AZ, but will I have to pay penalties for not having anything withheld during the year?
Hi AM,
As long as you file non-resident returns for those states, you won’t be penalized. In fact, you may receive a credit from your resident state so that you are not double taxed.
I live in Arizona. I worked remotely in Arizona for a company based In Pennsylvania. My checks had only PA state tax with held. When I file my taxes, all my state returns (az & Ri) show a zero balance and zero refund. Should I not still receive hundreds in refund as I did when I worked and lived in the same state? Is this something I can resolve with the way I file or do I need to go directly through PA and attempt to get the taxes paid reimbursed? Thanks
Hi Eddie,
Along with your resident state return for Arizona, you’ll need to file a non-resident state return for PA. Since you were working remotely from AZ but your taxes were withheld from PA, you should receive a refund for that. You are responsible for AZ taxes; not PA taxes (since you were not physically working there).