Live in Iowa, Work Remotely for a Missouri Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Only Iowa taxes you. Missouri levies no personal income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld there and you file no Missouri return. Iowa taxes its residents on all income wherever earned, which means your Missouri earnings go on a Iowa 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. Missouri takes nothing, but Iowa still taxes residents on income earned anywhere, so the full amount lands on your Iowa return.
Missouri also has a layer below the state one, and it is the layer that survives every agreement: Kansas City and St. Louis each levy a one per cent earnings tax on wages earned inside the city, collected by the city. Nonresidents pay it on the portion of work performed there.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Iowa
File a Iowa resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Iowa | Missouri | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — flat | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | 1 (Form 44-016) | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form IA 1040 with Schedule IA 126 | Form MO-1040 with Form MO-NRI |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form IA 130 | Form MO-CR |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | Yes | Yes |
| Revenue department | Iowa Department of Revenue | Missouri Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Missouri 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 → MissouriBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: Iowa → MissouriHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Iowa → MissouriTwo part-year returns
Other Iowa pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Iowa and work remotely for a Missouri employer. Which state do I pay?
Only Iowa taxes you. Missouri levies no personal income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld there and you file no Missouri return. Iowa taxes its residents on all income wherever earned, which means your Missouri earnings go on a Iowa resident return in full.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Iowa. Your employer should withhold Iowa tax rather than Missouri tax on these wages. If a Missouri line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my Missouri employer's location alone create a Missouri tax obligation?
No. Missouri 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 Missouri are a different matter — those are Missouri-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Iowa and Missouri rules on this page were last checked against Iowa Department of Revenue and Missouri 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.
- Iowa Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Missouri Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07