Live in Massachusetts, Work Remotely for a Iowa Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Your home state takes it and the work state does not. Iowa levies no tax on wages; Massachusetts taxes residents on all income regardless of where it was earned. The result is a single Massachusetts 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. Massachusetts reaches all of a resident's income, and Iowa adds nothing on top.
Iowa also has a layer below the state one, and it is the layer that survives every agreement: Many Iowa school districts levy a surtax calculated as a percentage of state income tax. It is reported on the state return rather than separately.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Massachusetts
File a Massachusetts resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Massachusetts | Iowa | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — flat | Yes — flat |
| Reciprocity partners | None | 1 (Form 44-016) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 1-NR/PY | Form IA 1040 with Schedule IA 126 |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule OJC | Form IA 130 |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | No | Yes |
| Revenue department | Massachusetts Department of Revenue | Iowa Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Iowa and working in Massachusetts 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: Massachusetts → IowaBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: Massachusetts → IowaHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Massachusetts → IowaTwo part-year returns
Other Massachusetts pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Massachusetts and work remotely for a Iowa employer. Which state do I pay?
Your home state takes it and the work state does not. Iowa levies no tax on wages; Massachusetts taxes residents on all income regardless of where it was earned. The result is a single Massachusetts resident return covering the full amount, with no offsetting credit.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Massachusetts. Your employer should withhold Massachusetts tax rather than Iowa tax on these wages. If a Iowa line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my Iowa employer's location alone create a Iowa tax obligation?
No. Iowa 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 Iowa are a different matter — those are Iowa-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Massachusetts and Iowa rules on this page were last checked against Massachusetts Department of Revenue and Iowa 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.
- Massachusetts Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Iowa Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07