Live in Illinois, Work Remotely for a Connecticut Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Only Illinois taxes you. Connecticut levies no personal income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld there and you file no Connecticut return. Illinois taxes its residents on all income wherever earned, which means your Connecticut earnings go on a Illinois resident return in full.
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. Illinois reaches all of a resident's income, and Connecticut adds nothing on top.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Illinois
File a Illinois resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Illinois | Connecticut | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — flat | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | 4 (Form IL-W-5-NR) | None |
| Convenience rule | No | Only against convenience-rule states |
| Nonresident return | Form IL-1040 with Schedule NR | Form CT-1040NR/PY |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule CR | Schedule 2 (Form CT-1040) |
| Nonresident safe harbour | 30 days | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Illinois Department of Revenue | Connecticut Department of Revenue Services |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Connecticut 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 → ConnecticutBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: Illinois → ConnecticutHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Illinois → ConnecticutTwo part-year returns
Other Illinois pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Illinois and work remotely for a Connecticut employer. Which state do I pay?
Only Illinois taxes you. Connecticut levies no personal income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld there and you file no Connecticut return. Illinois taxes its residents on all income wherever earned, which means your Connecticut earnings go on a Illinois resident return in full.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Illinois. Your employer should withhold Illinois tax rather than Connecticut tax on these wages. If a Connecticut line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my Connecticut employer's location alone create a Connecticut tax obligation?
No. Connecticut 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 Connecticut are a different matter — those are Connecticut-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Illinois and Connecticut rules on this page were last checked against Illinois Department of Revenue and Connecticut Department of Revenue Services 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
- Connecticut Department of Revenue Services — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07