Live in Rhode Island, Work Remotely for a Tennessee Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
One state, one return: Rhode Island. Tennessee has no wage income tax, so working there changes nothing about what you owe. Your Rhode Island resident return reports the Tennessee income along with everything else, and there is no credit to claim because Tennessee charged you nothing.
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 Tennessee 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 | Tennessee | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Tennessee Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Tennessee 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 → TennesseeHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Rhode Island → TennesseeHome state only — estimated payments
- Moved mid-year: Rhode Island → TennesseeOne 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 Tennessee employer. Which state do I pay?
One state, one return: Rhode Island. Tennessee has no wage income tax, so working there changes nothing about what you owe. Your Rhode Island resident return reports the Tennessee income along with everything else, and there is no credit to claim because Tennessee charged you nothing.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Rhode Island. Your employer should withhold Rhode Island tax rather than Tennessee tax on these wages. If a Tennessee 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 Tennessee rules on this page were last checked against Rhode Island Division of Taxation and Tennessee 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
- Tennessee Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07