Live in Illinois, Work Remotely for a Maine Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Only Illinois taxes you. Maine levies no personal income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld there and you file no Maine return. Illinois taxes its residents on all income wherever earned, which means your Maine earnings go on a Illinois resident return in full.
Last verified
The instinct that working in a no-tax state means paying no tax is the single most expensive misunderstanding in this niche. Maine 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 | Maine | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 1040ME with Schedule NR |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule CR | Form 1040ME Schedule A |
| Nonresident safe harbour | 30 days | 12 days or a dollar floor |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Illinois Department of Revenue | Maine Revenue Services |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Maine 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 → MaineBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: Illinois → MaineHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Illinois → MaineTwo part-year returns
Other Illinois pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Illinois and work remotely for a Maine employer. Which state do I pay?
Only Illinois taxes you. Maine levies no personal income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld there and you file no Maine return. Illinois taxes its residents on all income wherever earned, which means your Maine 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 Maine tax on these wages. If a Maine line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my Maine employer's location alone create a Maine tax obligation?
No. Maine 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 Maine are a different matter — those are Maine-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Illinois and Maine rules on this page were last checked against Illinois Department of Revenue and Maine 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
- Maine Revenue Services — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07