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.
Hi,
I presently live in Missouri and am currently looking at taking a job for a company based in Oregon. The majority of the work will take place in various states and locations to possibly include some international travel. I will not be staying in any one location for any significant length of time and yet will maintain a residence in Missouri. In a case such as this, would I need to file only Missouri state taxes, or would I need to file resident in Missouri and non-resident in Oregon state, and then track every state that I work in to file non-resident taxes in each of those as well?
Thanks for the advice.
~Jason
Hi Jason,
You will need to file a resident return in Missouri, for sure. You will most likely need to file as a nonresident in the other states as well. Most states have a gross income threshold below which you don’t need to file, but they tend to be pretty low bars.
Hello, I live in Texas , and am being transferred to El Paso . I still maintain my home in Dallas but am renting another house in an elpaso suburb that is actually in New Mexico . All of my work is in Texas and I will basically just be sleeping in New Mexico. Do I have to pay New Mexico income tax?
Hi Robert,
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.
Since you will be living in New Mexico, you may want to check their residence guidelines since every state abides by their own rules when it comes to being a resident.
Hi,
I live in Texas. I also have a LLC incorporated in Texas (no state income tax). I receive a 1099 from a company located in Oklahoma (state tax). Do I have to pay Oklahoma state tax since I do earn income there?
What if I move to Oklahoma and start living there, even though my LLC is still incorporated in Texas? Do I owe Oklahoma income tax?
Hi Kris,
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. Take note, that the guidelines may vary if you own a business yourself. That being said, I suggest looking on your state government website or contacting them directly.
I’m looking into this situation to see what I would have to do about taxes. I am a legal resident of FL (permanent legal residency is here), working as a contractor on W2 for a company in Washington State, but my work-site is in Michigan. While FL and WA don’t have personal income tax, MI does; would I need to pay taxes to MI even though I am not a permanent employee in that state, rather a contractor from a WA based company working at a job site in MI?
Hi Kenneth,
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. 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, although you do if they accidentally withhold taxes for that state.
I live in Texas and work in Africa. I spend approximately half the year in Africa. 2014 will be my first year to file my taxes in this situation, and won’t be the last. I receive a foreign service premium and I know my company pays taxes on my behalf while I’m over here. How will my situation affect my taxes? What benefits are there, if any, to working overseas?
Hi Mac,
Typically, if you’re a U.S. citizen living and/or working in a foreign country, the rules for filing U.S. income tax returns and paying estimated taxes are the same whether you’re in the United States or abroad. Please note that your international income is taxed, regardless of where you reside. However, you may qualify to claim a foreign income exclusion.
In general, if you worked abroad during the Tax Year and you have gross income from worldwide sources that’s at least the amount shown for your filing status, you must file a tax return.