Live in Colorado, Work Remotely for a Oregon Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Your home state takes it and the work state does not. Oregon levies no tax on wages; Colorado taxes residents on all income regardless of where it was earned. The result is a single Colorado resident return covering the full amount, with no offsetting credit.
Last verified
The instinct that working in a no-tax state means paying no tax is the single most expensive misunderstanding in this niche. Oregon takes nothing, but Colorado still taxes residents on income earned anywhere, so the full amount lands on your Colorado return.
Oregon also has a layer below the state one, and it is the layer that survives every agreement: The Portland area layers two local income taxes on top of the state tax — the Metro supportive housing tax and the Multnomah County preschool tax — and both reach nonresidents on income sourced to the district. They are administered by the City of Portland Revenue Division, not the Department of Revenue.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Colorado
File a Colorado resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Colorado | Oregon | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — flat | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form DR 0104 with Schedule DR 0104PN | Form OR-40-N |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form DR 0104CR | Schedule OR-ASC-NP |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | Yes | Yes |
| Revenue department | Colorado Department of Revenue — Taxation Division | Oregon Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Oregon and working in Colorado 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: Colorado → OregonBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: Colorado → OregonHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Colorado → OregonTwo part-year returns
Other Colorado pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Colorado and work remotely for a Oregon employer. Which state do I pay?
Your home state takes it and the work state does not. Oregon levies no tax on wages; Colorado taxes residents on all income regardless of where it was earned. The result is a single Colorado resident return covering the full amount, with no offsetting credit.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Colorado. Your employer should withhold Colorado tax rather than Oregon tax on these wages. If a Oregon line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my Oregon employer's location alone create a Oregon tax obligation?
No. Oregon 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 Oregon are a different matter — those are Oregon-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Colorado and Oregon rules on this page were last checked against Colorado Department of Revenue — Taxation Division and Oregon 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.
- Colorado Department of Revenue — Taxation Division — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Oregon Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07