Live in Massachusetts, Work Remotely for a South Carolina Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
One state, one return: Massachusetts. South Carolina has no wage income tax, so working there changes nothing about what you owe. Your Massachusetts resident return reports the South Carolina income along with everything else, and there is no credit to claim because South Carolina 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. South Carolina takes nothing, but Massachusetts still taxes residents on income earned anywhere, so the full amount lands on your Massachusetts return.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Massachusetts
File a Massachusetts resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Massachusetts | South Carolina | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — flat | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 1-NR/PY | Form SC1040 with Schedule NR |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule OJC | Form SC1040TC |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Massachusetts Department of Revenue | South Carolina Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in South Carolina 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 → South CarolinaBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: Massachusetts → South CarolinaHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Massachusetts → South CarolinaTwo part-year returns
Other Massachusetts pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Massachusetts and work remotely for a South Carolina employer. Which state do I pay?
One state, one return: Massachusetts. South Carolina has no wage income tax, so working there changes nothing about what you owe. Your Massachusetts resident return reports the South Carolina income along with everything else, and there is no credit to claim because South Carolina charged you nothing.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Massachusetts. Your employer should withhold Massachusetts tax rather than South Carolina tax on these wages. If a South Carolina line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my South Carolina employer's location alone create a South Carolina tax obligation?
No. South Carolina 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 South Carolina are a different matter — those are South Carolina-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Massachusetts and South Carolina rules on this page were last checked against Massachusetts Department of Revenue and South Carolina 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
- South Carolina Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07