Live in New Hampshire, Work Remotely for a District of Columbia Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
This is the best case in the whole matrix. Living in a no-income-tax state and working remotely for an employer in District of Columbia — a state with no convenience rule — means no state withholding and no state return anywhere. Check that your employer is not withholding District of Columbia tax by mistake.
Last verified
An employer's address is not a tax nexus for its employees. Working from New Hampshire keeps the income New Hampshire-source, and since New Hampshire levies no tax on wages, the income lands nowhere at all.
What you file
There is nothing to file in either New Hampshire or District of Columbia on these wages. Your federal return is unaffected — the federal government taxes the income whatever the states do.
The two states, side by side
| New Hampshire | District of Columbia | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | 2 (Form D-4A) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | None — nonresidents exempt |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Schedule U (Form D-40) |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration | District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in District of Columbia and working in New Hampshire 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: New Hampshire → District of ColumbiaNo state income tax either side
- 1099 contractor: New Hampshire → District of ColumbiaClient state only, if you work there
- Moved mid-year: New Hampshire → District of ColumbiaOne part-year return — the state you moved to
Other New Hampshire pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in New Hampshire and work remotely for a District of Columbia employer. Which state do I pay?
This is the best case in the whole matrix. Living in a no-income-tax state and working remotely for an employer in District of Columbia — a state with no convenience rule — means no state withholding and no state return anywhere. Check that your employer is not withholding District of Columbia tax by mistake.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Neither. There is no state income tax to withhold on either side of this pairing, so a state line on your pay stub for New Hampshire or District of Columbia is an error worth querying.
Does my District of Columbia employer's location alone create a District of Columbia tax obligation?
No. District of Columbia 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 District of Columbia are a different matter — those are District of Columbia-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The New Hampshire and District of Columbia rules on this page were last checked against New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration and District of Columbia Office of Tax and 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.
- New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07