Live in Rhode Island, Work Remotely for a South Dakota Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Only Rhode Island taxes you. South Dakota levies no personal income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld there and you file no South Dakota return. Rhode Island taxes its residents on all income wherever earned, which means your South Dakota earnings go on a Rhode Island 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. Rhode Island reaches all of a resident's income, and South Dakota adds nothing on top.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Rhode Island
File a Rhode Island resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Rhode Island | South Dakota | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | No |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form RI-1040NR | Not applicable |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form RI-1040NR Schedule II | No income tax |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | Not applicable |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Rhode Island Division of Taxation | South Dakota Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in South Dakota and working in Rhode Island gives:No state income tax on your wages.
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: Rhode Island → South DakotaHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Rhode Island → South DakotaHome state only — estimated payments
- Moved mid-year: Rhode Island → South DakotaOne part-year return — the state you left
Other Rhode Island pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Rhode Island and work remotely for a South Dakota employer. Which state do I pay?
Only Rhode Island taxes you. South Dakota levies no personal income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld there and you file no South Dakota return. Rhode Island taxes its residents on all income wherever earned, which means your South Dakota earnings go on a Rhode Island resident return in full.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Rhode Island. Your employer should withhold Rhode Island tax rather than South Dakota tax on these wages. If a South Dakota line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
How current is this?
The Rhode Island and South Dakota rules on this page were last checked against Rhode Island Division of Taxation and South Dakota 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.
- Rhode Island Division of Taxation — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- South Dakota Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07