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 resident of Michigan and work in VA, and I am trying to figure out where I file taxes. Please help!
You will need to file a resident return for MI and a non-resident return for VA. This is to avoid “double taxation”. You will be able to receive a credit from MI for taxes paid to VA.
Hello,
My husband is currently active duty military and we are living in KS, I am working full time as well, our legal state of residency is MD, we are in the process of filing our joint taxes and MD is saying that we will owe them over $2000! Are there any tax deductions we should look into since we are not technically living in MD? Or do you know of a military clause regarding this?
Thanks!
If your legal state of residency is MD, then MD will tax all of your income. You may want to explore and determine if you qualify for Military Pay Exemptions.
My income from working in another state will fall under 1099-MISC and I have no paperwork from this income except the deposits in my bank account. The deposits come from a company based out of Illinois, but I worked in Georgia and Florida while performing this work and my resident state at that time was in Pennsylvania. In which state do I need to file as a non-resident?
The fact that the company that pays you is located in IL is not an issue. Generally, you would only need to file taxes in your resident state (PA)
and the state where you earned income (GA). Rapidtax expertly handles resident and non-resident returns. Click here to get started on your resident PA return and Non-Resident GA return.
Live in Massachusetts but work offshore in the gufl of mexico, company is based in texas.
Do I owe Massachusetts state tax? if so do I owe for the months I am not there?
Since you are a resident of Massachusetts, you will need to file a resident MA return.
I am a resident of Pennsylvania. I worked in California for all of 2016 and was taxed at a California rate. When filing taxes, I file for PA and CA. The total amount I pay in state taxes should be according to the PA rate, correct? After completing all of the info for my tax return, I am still paying $1000 more in states taxes than I should be per the PA rate. Is this right?
What is most important is that you receive a credit from your resident state PA for taxes paid to your non-resident state CA. Rapidtax handles resident and non-resident returns. Click here to get started today.
CA provides a tax calculator for determining the taxes on your CA 540NR. Click here to use the CA FTB Tax Calculator.