Live in Michigan, Work Remotely for a Minnesota Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Only Michigan taxes you. Minnesota levies no personal income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld there and you file no Minnesota return. Michigan taxes its residents on all income wherever earned, which means your Minnesota earnings go on a Michigan resident return in full.
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. Michigan reaches all of a resident's income, and Minnesota adds nothing on top.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Michigan
File a Michigan resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Michigan | Minnesota | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — flat | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | 6 (Form MI-W4) | 2 (Form MWR) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form MI-1040 with Schedule NR | Form M1 with Schedule M1NR |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form MI-1040 (credit for income tax imposed by another state) | Schedule M1CR |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | Yes | No |
| Revenue department | Michigan Department of Treasury | Minnesota Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Minnesota and working in Michigan 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: Michigan → MinnesotaReciprocal agreement — file the exemption form
- 1099 contractor: Michigan → MinnesotaHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Michigan → MinnesotaTwo part-year returns
Other Michigan pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Michigan and work remotely for a Minnesota employer. Which state do I pay?
Only Michigan taxes you. Minnesota levies no personal income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld there and you file no Minnesota return. Michigan taxes its residents on all income wherever earned, which means your Minnesota earnings go on a Michigan resident return in full.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Michigan. Your employer should withhold Michigan tax rather than Minnesota tax on these wages. If a Minnesota line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my Minnesota employer's location alone create a Minnesota tax obligation?
No. Minnesota 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 Minnesota are a different matter — those are Minnesota-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Michigan and Minnesota rules on this page were last checked against Michigan Department of Treasury and Minnesota 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.
- Michigan Department of Treasury — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Minnesota Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07