Live in Kentucky, Work Remotely for a Maine Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Your home state takes it and the work state does not. Maine levies no tax on wages; Kentucky taxes residents on all income regardless of where it was earned. The result is a single Kentucky resident return covering the full amount, with no offsetting credit.
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. Kentucky reaches all of a resident's income, and Maine adds nothing on top.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Kentucky
File a Kentucky resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Kentucky | Maine | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — flat | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | 7 (Form 42A809) | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 740-NP | Form 1040ME with Schedule NR |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule ITC | Form 1040ME Schedule A |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | 12 days or a dollar floor |
| Local income tax | Yes | No |
| Revenue department | Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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: Kentucky → MaineBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: Kentucky → MaineHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Kentucky → MaineTwo part-year returns
Other Kentucky pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Kentucky and work remotely for a Maine employer. Which state do I pay?
Your home state takes it and the work state does not. Maine levies no tax on wages; Kentucky taxes residents on all income regardless of where it was earned. The result is a single Kentucky resident return covering the full amount, with no offsetting credit.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Kentucky. Your employer should withhold Kentucky 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 Kentucky and Maine rules on this page were last checked against Kentucky 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.
- Kentucky Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Maine Revenue Services — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07