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