1099 Contractor in Tennessee with a New Hampshire Client: Where Do You File?
Answer
Your only obligation is federal. Tennessee does not tax the income where you earn it and New Hampshire does not tax it where the client sits, so this pairing removes state income tax from a 1099 arrangement completely — self-employment tax and federal income tax still apply.
Last verified
The recurring 1099 question is whether a client in another state drags you into that state's tax system. Here the question is doubly moot: New Hampshire has no personal income tax, and neither does Tennessee.
What you file
There is nothing to file in either Tennessee or New Hampshire on these wages. Your federal return is unaffected — the federal government taxes the income whatever the states do.
The two states, side by side
| Tennessee | New Hampshire | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | No |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | No income tax |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Tennessee Department of Revenue | New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in New Hampshire and working in Tennessee gives:No state income tax either side.
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 → New HampshireNo state income tax either side
- Remote worker: Tennessee → New HampshireNo state income tax either side
- Moved mid-year: Tennessee → New HampshireNo state return either side
Other Tennessee pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Tennessee and my client is in New Hampshire. Do I have to file a New Hampshire tax return?
Your only obligation is federal. Tennessee does not tax the income where you earn it and New Hampshire does not tax it where the client sits, so this pairing removes state income tax from a 1099 arrangement completely — self-employment tax and federal income tax still apply.
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 New Hampshire hold an agreement makes no difference to a self-employed filer — sourcing rules decide the answer instead.
How current is this?
The Tennessee and New Hampshire rules on this page were last checked against Tennessee Department of Revenue and New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration 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
- New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07