Live in Iowa, Work Remotely for a Virginia Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Your home state takes it and the work state does not. Virginia levies no tax on wages; Iowa taxes residents on all income regardless of where it was earned. The result is a single Iowa 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. Virginia 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 | Virginia | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — flat | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | 1 (Form 44-016) | 5 (Form VA-4) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form IA 1040 with Schedule IA 126 | Form 763 |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form IA 130 | Schedule OSC |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | Yes | No |
| Revenue department | Iowa Department of Revenue | Virginia Department of Taxation |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Virginia 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 → VirginiaBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: Iowa → VirginiaHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Iowa → VirginiaTwo part-year returns
Other Iowa pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Iowa and work remotely for a Virginia employer. Which state do I pay?
Your home state takes it and the work state does not. Virginia levies no tax on wages; Iowa taxes residents on all income regardless of where it was earned. The result is a single Iowa resident return covering the full amount, with no offsetting credit.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Iowa. Your employer should withhold Iowa tax rather than Virginia tax on these wages. If a Virginia line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my Virginia employer's location alone create a Virginia tax obligation?
No. Virginia 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 Virginia are a different matter — those are Virginia-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Iowa and Virginia rules on this page were last checked against Iowa Department of Revenue and Virginia Department of Taxation 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
- Virginia Department of Taxation — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Virginia — Form VA-4accessed 2026-08-07
- Virginia Tax — Reciprocityaccessed 2026-08-07