Live in Illinois, Work Remotely for a Arkansas Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Your home state takes it and the work state does not. Arkansas levies no tax on wages; Illinois taxes residents on all income regardless of where it was earned. The result is a single Illinois 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. Arkansas takes nothing, but Illinois still taxes residents on income earned anywhere, so the full amount lands on your Illinois return.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Illinois
File a Illinois resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Illinois | Arkansas | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — flat | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | 4 (Form IL-W-5-NR) | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form IL-1040 with Schedule NR | Form AR1000NR |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule CR | Form AR1000TC |
| Nonresident safe harbour | 30 days | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Illinois Department of Revenue | Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Arkansas and working in Illinois 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: Illinois → ArkansasBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: Illinois → ArkansasHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Illinois → ArkansasTwo part-year returns
Other Illinois pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Illinois and work remotely for a Arkansas employer. Which state do I pay?
Your home state takes it and the work state does not. Arkansas levies no tax on wages; Illinois taxes residents on all income regardless of where it was earned. The result is a single Illinois resident return covering the full amount, with no offsetting credit.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Illinois. Your employer should withhold Illinois tax rather than Arkansas tax on these wages. If a Arkansas line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my Arkansas employer's location alone create a Arkansas tax obligation?
No. Arkansas 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 Arkansas are a different matter — those are Arkansas-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Illinois and Arkansas rules on this page were last checked against Illinois Department of Revenue and Arkansas Department of Finance and 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.
- Illinois Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07