Live in Ohio, Work Remotely for a Montana Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Only Ohio taxes you. Montana levies no personal income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld there and you file no Montana return. Ohio taxes its residents on all income wherever earned, which means your Montana earnings go on a Ohio resident return in full.
Last verified
The instinct that working in a no-tax state means paying no tax is the single most expensive misunderstanding in this niche. Montana takes nothing, but Ohio still taxes residents on income earned anywhere, so the full amount lands on your Ohio return.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Ohio
File a Ohio resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Ohio | Montana | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | 5 (Form IT 4NR) | 1 (Form MW-4) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form IT 1040 with Schedule IT NRC | Form 2 with the nonresident/part-year schedule |
| Credit for other-state tax | Ohio Schedule of Credits (resident credit) | Form 2 (credit for income tax paid to another state) |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | Yes | No |
| Revenue department | Ohio Department of Taxation | Montana Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Montana and working in Ohio 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: Ohio → MontanaBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: Ohio → MontanaHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Ohio → MontanaTwo part-year returns
Other Ohio pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Ohio and work remotely for a Montana employer. Which state do I pay?
Only Ohio taxes you. Montana levies no personal income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld there and you file no Montana return. Ohio taxes its residents on all income wherever earned, which means your Montana earnings go on a Ohio resident return in full.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Ohio. Your employer should withhold Ohio tax rather than Montana tax on these wages. If a Montana line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my Montana employer's location alone create a Montana tax obligation?
No. Montana 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 Montana are a different matter — those are Montana-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Ohio and Montana rules on this page were last checked against Ohio Department of Taxation and Montana 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.
- Ohio Department of Taxation — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Ohio — Form IT 4NRaccessed 2026-08-07
- Montana Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07