1099 Contractor in Tennessee with a Idaho Client: Where Do You File?
Answer
The client's address is not the test. Tennessee has no personal income tax, so nothing is owed at home; Idaho taxes nonresidents on income from services performed within Idaho, so if you never travel there to work, there is nothing to file. Days on site change that.
Last verified
The most common contractor worry — that invoicing an out-of-state client creates a filing obligation there — is usually unfounded. What creates the obligation is physical presence, and Tennessee residents have no home-state return in any case.
Idaho publishes no de minimis day count or dollar floor for nonresidents. Any Idaho-source wage income above the state's general filing threshold requires a nonresident return, and that threshold is reset each year — check the current figure on the Idaho State Tax Commission nonresident instructions before filing.
What you file
- 1Nonresident return · IdahoForm 43
File a Idaho nonresident return only for income from services you physically performed in Idaho. Tennessee does not tax wage or self-employment income.
The two states, side by side
| Tennessee | Idaho | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — flat |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Form 43 |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Form 39NR |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Tennessee Department of Revenue | Idaho State Tax Commission |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Idaho and working in Tennessee gives:Home state only — estimated payments.
Same two states, different situation
The withholding answer turns on how you are paid and where the work happens, not only on which two states are involved.
- W-2 commuter: Tennessee → IdahoWork state only
- Remote worker: Tennessee → IdahoNo state income tax on your wages
- Moved mid-year: Tennessee → IdahoOne part-year return — the state you moved to
Other Tennessee pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Tennessee and my client is in Idaho. Do I have to file a Idaho tax return?
The client's address is not the test. Tennessee has no personal income tax, so nothing is owed at home; Idaho taxes nonresidents on income from services performed within Idaho, so if you never travel there to work, there is nothing to file. Days on site change that.
Do reciprocity agreements help a 1099 contractor?
No. Every state reciprocity agreement in the country is an arrangement about wage withholding between two revenue departments, and a 1099 has no withholding to switch off. Whether Tennessee and Idaho hold an agreement makes no difference to a self-employed filer — sourcing rules decide the answer instead.
How current is this?
The Tennessee and Idaho rules on this page were last checked against Tennessee Department of Revenue and Idaho State Tax Commission on 2026-08-07. We re-check the full grid every December after state legislative sessions close, and re-check the convenience-of-the-employer states quarterly because that is where the rules move fastest.
Sources
Every fact above comes from the revenue department that publishes the rule. We do not cite secondary summaries, and we do not restate a figure we could not find at source.
- Tennessee Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Idaho State Tax Commission — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07