Live in California, Work Remotely for a Massachusetts Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
One state, one return: California. Massachusetts has no wage income tax, so working there changes nothing about what you owe. Your California resident return reports the Massachusetts income along with everything else, and there is no credit to claim because Massachusetts charged you nothing.
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. California reaches all of a resident's income, and Massachusetts adds nothing on top.
What you file
- 1Resident return · California
File a California resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| California | Massachusetts | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — flat |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 540NR | Form 1-NR/PY |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule S | Schedule OJC |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | California Franchise Tax Board | Massachusetts Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Massachusetts and working in California 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: California → MassachusettsBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: California → MassachusettsHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: California → MassachusettsTwo part-year returns
Other California pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in California and work remotely for a Massachusetts employer. Which state do I pay?
One state, one return: California. Massachusetts has no wage income tax, so working there changes nothing about what you owe. Your California resident return reports the Massachusetts income along with everything else, and there is no credit to claim because Massachusetts charged you nothing.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
California. Your employer should withhold California tax rather than Massachusetts tax on these wages. If a Massachusetts line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my Massachusetts employer's location alone create a Massachusetts tax obligation?
No. Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts are a different matter — those are Massachusetts-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The California and Massachusetts rules on this page were last checked against California Franchise Tax Board and Massachusetts 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.
- California Franchise Tax Board — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Massachusetts Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07