Live in Iowa, Work Remotely for a Connecticut Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
One state, one return: Iowa. Connecticut has no wage income tax, so working there changes nothing about what you owe. Your Iowa resident return reports the Connecticut income along with everything else, and there is no credit to claim because Connecticut charged you nothing.
Last verified
The instinct that working in a no-tax state means paying no tax is the single most expensive misunderstanding in this niche. Connecticut takes nothing, but Iowa still taxes residents on income earned anywhere, so the full amount lands on your Iowa return.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Iowa
File a Iowa resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Iowa | Connecticut | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — flat | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | 1 (Form 44-016) | None |
| Convenience rule | No | Only against convenience-rule states |
| Nonresident return | Form IA 1040 with Schedule IA 126 | Form CT-1040NR/PY |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form IA 130 | Schedule 2 (Form CT-1040) |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | Yes | No |
| Revenue department | Iowa 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 Iowa 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: Iowa → ConnecticutBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: Iowa → ConnecticutHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Iowa → ConnecticutTwo part-year returns
Other Iowa pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Iowa and work remotely for a Connecticut employer. Which state do I pay?
One state, one return: Iowa. Connecticut has no wage income tax, so working there changes nothing about what you owe. Your Iowa resident return reports the Connecticut income along with everything else, and there is no credit to claim because Connecticut charged you nothing.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Iowa. Your employer should withhold Iowa 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 Iowa and Connecticut rules on this page were last checked against Iowa 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.
- Iowa Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Connecticut Department of Revenue Services — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07