Live in Minnesota, Work Remotely for a Louisiana Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Minnesota taxes the income and Louisiana cannot. Residency, not the location of the job, drives this answer: Minnesota reaches all of a resident's income, and Louisiana has no personal income tax to apply to the part earned inside its borders.
Last verified
The instinct that working in a no-tax state means paying no tax is the single most expensive misunderstanding in this niche. Louisiana takes nothing, but Minnesota still taxes residents on income earned anywhere, so the full amount lands on your Minnesota return.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Minnesota
File a Minnesota resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Minnesota | Louisiana | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — flat |
| Reciprocity partners | 2 (Form MWR) | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form M1 with Schedule M1NR | Form IT-540B |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule M1CR | Schedule G (Form IT-540) |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Minnesota Department of Revenue | Louisiana Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Louisiana and working in Minnesota 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: Minnesota → LouisianaBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: Minnesota → LouisianaHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Minnesota → LouisianaTwo part-year returns
Other Minnesota pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Minnesota and work remotely for a Louisiana employer. Which state do I pay?
Minnesota taxes the income and Louisiana cannot. Residency, not the location of the job, drives this answer: Minnesota reaches all of a resident's income, and Louisiana has no personal income tax to apply to the part earned inside its borders.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Minnesota. Your employer should withhold Minnesota tax rather than Louisiana tax on these wages. If a Louisiana line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my Louisiana employer's location alone create a Louisiana tax obligation?
No. Louisiana 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 Louisiana are a different matter — those are Louisiana-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Minnesota and Louisiana rules on this page were last checked against Minnesota Department of Revenue and Louisiana 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.
- Minnesota Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Louisiana Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07