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 live and am licensed in Phx Arizona and work in North Dakota, but I rent and receive all work related material in North Dakota and all work records reflect ND as permanent address. Is this going to cause trouble? How would I file?
Hi Peter,
As a general rule, along with your federal return, you have to file a resident tax return in the state where you lived, a part-year resident return in any state you moved to/from, and a nonresident return in a state where you earned money but didn’t live.
Hi,
I was reading these post and several other ones on different websites and I am still confused, and have not found and answer for my situation.
Currently, I work for a company where I am not the owner nor a shareholder just a general employee. I live in the state of Florida, but by the company my base state is in Oklahoma; however I travel to many states for work which are, West Virgina, New Jersey, Arizona, and Georgia. The company I work for has base locations in all states of the Unites States. Eventually at some point I will be relocating to Oklahoma but not till 2015. For my 2014 taxes, I am currently having state taxes held for Oklahoma, which does have states taxes, but I reside in Florida and Florida not have state taxes.
1) What do I need to do to get my money back from Oklahoma?
2) Also, will I get all to money I paid to Oklahoma back or only a portion of the money?
Thanks for any help!
~Lydia
Hi Lydia,
As a general rule, you have to file a resident tax return in the state where you lived, a part-year resident return in any state you moved to/from, and a nonresident return in a state where you earned money but didn’t live.
In reference to your questions, you may receive a refund based on the amount of state taxes withheld from your paychecks throughout the year (similar to your federal return). To do this, you will need to file a nonresident return for Oklahoma. Once you DO move, you will only need to file a resident tax return for Oklahoma for the future tax years.
Hi,
I have residency in Minnesota, but live and work in Nevada. I am looking at living here for only a temporary amount of time (1-2 years), I know I need to file as a Minnesota resident and do not file for Nevada since it has no state income tax, but my question is will changing my residency to Nevada (which I don’t really want to do) save me money during tax time or will leaving my residency in Minnesota be fine?
Also, my current paychecks do not contain Minnesota state income withholding’s, should I have them changed to include Minnesotan state income with holdings as well or is that taken care come tax time when I file as a Minnesota resident?
Hi David,
I suggest contacting the State of Minnesota about their residency guidelines since every state follows different rules. Also, I would speak with someone in your payroll department about taxes being withheld from your paychecks.
I live in New York. The company I work for is registered in Connecticut. But our office is in NY. So in terms of location I work in NY as well and never go for work to Connecticut.
How should I file my taxes? Do I need to file CT state tax?
Thanks!
Hi Vlad,
As a general rule, you have to file a resident return in the state where you live and a non resident return in any state where you earned an income.
Take note: it doesn’t matter where your company is located. If you didn’t live in a state, and you physically did not work there, you don’t have to file a return there just because the company paying you is based there. (Do double check to make sure that your company is not withholding CT taxes though)
In your case, you will only need to file a state resident tax return for New York.
Thanks a lot!
Awesome website, thanks for all the useful info!
I live in NYC and work in Pennsylvania. As you clearly explained, I will have to pay both NY and P state taxes, however I will later claim the extra paid amounts and therefore will not lose money. What about NYC tax? I presume that I will not be able to claim this tax back, but wanted to double check. Thank you!
Hi Alex,
That is correct.