Live in South Carolina, Work Remotely for a Idaho Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
One state, one return: South Carolina. Idaho has no wage income tax, so working there changes nothing about what you owe. Your South Carolina resident return reports the Idaho income along with everything else, and there is no credit to claim because Idaho 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. South Carolina reaches all of a resident's income, and Idaho adds nothing on top.
What you file
- 1Resident return · South Carolina
File a South Carolina resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| South Carolina | Idaho | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — flat |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form SC1040 with Schedule NR | Form 43 |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form SC1040TC | Form 39NR |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | South Carolina Department of Revenue | Idaho State Tax Commission |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Idaho and working in South Carolina 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: South Carolina → IdahoBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: South Carolina → IdahoHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: South Carolina → IdahoTwo part-year returns
Other South Carolina pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in South Carolina and work remotely for a Idaho employer. Which state do I pay?
One state, one return: South Carolina. Idaho has no wage income tax, so working there changes nothing about what you owe. Your South Carolina resident return reports the Idaho income along with everything else, and there is no credit to claim because Idaho charged you nothing.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
South Carolina. Your employer should withhold South Carolina tax rather than Idaho tax on these wages. If a Idaho line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my Idaho employer's location alone create a Idaho tax obligation?
No. Idaho 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 Idaho are a different matter — those are Idaho-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The South Carolina and Idaho rules on this page were last checked against South Carolina Department of Revenue and Idaho State Tax Commission 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.
- South Carolina Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Idaho State Tax Commission — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07