Live in Alabama, Work Remotely for a Georgia Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Only Alabama taxes you. Georgia levies no personal income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld there and you file no Georgia return. Alabama taxes its residents on all income wherever earned, which means your Georgia earnings go on a Alabama resident return in full.
Last verified
The instinct that working in a no-tax state means paying no tax is the single most expensive misunderstanding in this niche. Georgia takes nothing, but Alabama still taxes residents on income earned anywhere, so the full amount lands on your Alabama return.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Alabama
File a Alabama resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Alabama | Georgia | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — flat |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 40NR | Form 500 with Schedule 3 |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule CR | Form 500 Schedule 2 |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | Yes | No |
| Revenue department | Alabama Department of Revenue | Georgia Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Georgia and working in Alabama gives:Home state only.
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: Alabama → GeorgiaBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: Alabama → GeorgiaHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Alabama → GeorgiaTwo part-year returns
Other Alabama pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Alabama and work remotely for a Georgia employer. Which state do I pay?
Only Alabama taxes you. Georgia levies no personal income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld there and you file no Georgia return. Alabama taxes its residents on all income wherever earned, which means your Georgia earnings go on a Alabama resident return in full.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Alabama. Your employer should withhold Alabama tax rather than Georgia tax on these wages. If a Georgia line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my Georgia employer's location alone create a Georgia tax obligation?
No. Georgia sources wages to the place where the work is physically performed, and it does not apply a convenience-of-the-employer rule that would override that. Days you actually spend working inside Georgia are a different matter — those are Georgia-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Alabama and Georgia rules on this page were last checked against Alabama Department of Revenue and Georgia Department of Revenue 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.
- Alabama Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Georgia Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07