Live in New Jersey, Work Remotely for a Maine Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
One state, one return: New Jersey. Maine has no wage income tax, so working there changes nothing about what you owe. Your New Jersey resident return reports the Maine income along with everything else, and there is no credit to claim because Maine 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. Maine takes nothing, but New Jersey still taxes residents on income earned anywhere, so the full amount lands on your New Jersey return.
What you file
- 1Resident return · New Jersey
File a New Jersey resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| New Jersey | Maine | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | 1 (Form NJ-165) | None |
| Convenience rule | Only against convenience-rule states | No |
| Nonresident return | Form NJ-1040NR | Form 1040ME with Schedule NR |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule NJ-COJ | Form 1040ME Schedule A |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | 12 days or a dollar floor |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | New Jersey Division of Taxation | Maine Revenue Services |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Maine and working in New Jersey 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 Jersey → MaineBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: New Jersey → MaineHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: New Jersey → MaineTwo part-year returns
Other New Jersey pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in New Jersey and work remotely for a Maine employer. Which state do I pay?
One state, one return: New Jersey. Maine has no wage income tax, so working there changes nothing about what you owe. Your New Jersey resident return reports the Maine income along with everything else, and there is no credit to claim because Maine charged you nothing.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
New Jersey. Your employer should withhold New Jersey tax rather than Maine tax on these wages. If a Maine line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my Maine employer's location alone create a Maine tax obligation?
No. Maine 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 Maine are a different matter — those are Maine-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The New Jersey and Maine rules on this page were last checked against New Jersey Division of Taxation and Maine Revenue Services 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 Jersey Division of Taxation — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- New Jersey Division of Taxation — Convenience of the Employer Ruleaccessed 2026-08-07
- Maine Revenue Services — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07