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by boring_twenties 1945 days ago
Does it work the other way around, too? E.g., if live in New Hampshire and work remotely for a New York company, do I have to pay the NY income tax?
5 comments

As I understand it, no--assuming you are not in the office over some threshold (which I don't know). If you commute from NH to Massachusetts you do need to pay MA income tax. And, oh, if you live in MA and commute to NH, you also have to pay MA income tax. I've definitely seen people who live in NH and used to commute to MA switching to being fully remote in the current situation.
Funny you bring that up. There's on ongoing case[1] involving New Hampshire and Massachusetts about that exact scenario that's likely to end up debated by the Supreme Court. In essence, does a state have, absent special status like 503(c), the right to apply income tax on activities/services for rendered in different state? If so, that implies that any and every money-making activity done in any part of world may be taxable even if one person in Massachusetts pays for it. This would apply whether the activity is part of an individual sale[2], employment, or contract work as would it apply, mutatis mutantis, for every other state.

[1]https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/new-hampshire-v-... [2]Which is already subject to sales tax after the reversal of the Quill Corp vs. North Dakota decision in South Dakota vs. Wayfair

I'm not sure I understand how that even works with larger companies. I live in MA but if I lived in NH, I'd only be working for my company in MA in the sense that it's the closest office. Company HQ is in NC and I work a lot with people all over the world. I haven't read all the background but surely MA doesn't say someone owes MA income tax because they could theoretically commute 2 hours to an office there.

ADDED: So I guess (although it's not super-clear) that it's a matter of being officially assigned to an office and maybe going in semi-regularly. Presumably if someone is 100% officially remote at a company with many offices, it wouldn't apply. https://andersen.com/pressroom/telecommuters-beware-of-state...

>>surely MA doesn't say someone owes MA income tax because they could theoretically come 2 hours to an office there.

The you'd be surprised what certain states would say, do, and compose in their legal briefs to justify extracting as much money as possible.

Also IANAL, so take what I have to say with a grain of salt.

Presumably, there could be some kind of test. If someone lives in NH but is 100% WFH, he may be subject to MA income tax under the following standard:

1) If the company is headquartered or incorporated in MA

2) If the work done is provided (a) to directly benefit operations of aforementioned company that are affiliated with a location in MA or (b) to be sold/provided to third party legal person(s) for which business operations /purchasing/selling would be done in MA. (i.e a business/service nexus)

If you earn money from a "New York Source", you have to pay NY State income tax even if you live in another state.

https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/file/nonresident-faqs.htm#nystax

In some states...yes. Like New York, and especially NYC, which has its own income tax scheme. (See for example https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/23/new-jersey-latest-state-to-j...)

Otherwise, no. Most places in the U.S., you are treated as earning the income where you are actually physically located (i.e., your home residence).

Can confirm. Have lived in NH for years, working remotely for companies headquartered in other states. Haven't had to pay their state income taxes.