Live in Alabama, Work Remotely for a Kansas Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Alabama gets all of it. Because Kansas does not tax wage income, no Kansas withholding exists and no Kansas return is required — but Alabama taxes residents on worldwide income, so every dollar earned in Kansas still belongs on your Alabama resident return.
Last verified
Crossing into a state with no income tax does not lower your tax bill, because your home state is not taxing you on where you work — it is taxing you on where you live. Alabama reaches all of a resident's income, and Kansas adds nothing on top.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Alabama
File a Alabama resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Alabama | Kansas | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 40NR | Form K-40 with Schedule S Part B |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule CR | Form K-40 (credit for taxes paid to other states) |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | Yes | No |
| Revenue department | Alabama Department of Revenue | Kansas Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Kansas 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 → KansasBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: Alabama → KansasHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Alabama → KansasTwo part-year returns
Other Alabama pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Alabama and work remotely for a Kansas employer. Which state do I pay?
Alabama gets all of it. Because Kansas does not tax wage income, no Kansas withholding exists and no Kansas return is required — but Alabama taxes residents on worldwide income, so every dollar earned in Kansas still belongs on your Alabama resident return.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Alabama. Your employer should withhold Alabama tax rather than Kansas tax on these wages. If a Kansas line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my Kansas employer's location alone create a Kansas tax obligation?
No. Kansas 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 Kansas are a different matter — those are Kansas-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Alabama and Kansas rules on this page were last checked against Alabama Department of Revenue and Kansas 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
- Kansas Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07