Live in Tennessee, Work Remotely for a Michigan Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
No state taxes your wages. You perform the work in Tennessee, which levies no personal income tax, and Michigan has no convenience-of-the-employer rule that could reach across the line at you. The employer's address in Michigan creates no Michigan liability on its own.
Last verified
Wages are sourced to the place where the work is physically performed. That default is what makes remote work simple, and it is only disturbed when the employer's state runs a convenience-of-the-employer rule. Michigan does not.
Michigan also has a layer below the state one, and it is the layer that survives every agreement: Two dozen Michigan cities levy their own income tax, Detroit among them, and the state reciprocal agreements do not cover city tax. A reciprocal-state resident working in Detroit still owes Detroit.
What you file
There is nothing to file in either Tennessee or Michigan on these wages. Your federal return is unaffected — the federal government taxes the income whatever the states do.
The two states, side by side
| Tennessee | Michigan | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — flat |
| Reciprocity partners | None | 6 (Form MI-W4) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Form MI-1040 with Schedule NR |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Form MI-1040 (credit for income tax imposed by another state) |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | Yes |
| Revenue department | Tennessee Department of Revenue | Michigan Department of Treasury |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Michigan and working in Tennessee 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: Tennessee → MichiganWork state only
- 1099 contractor: Tennessee → MichiganClient state only, if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Tennessee → MichiganOne part-year return — the state you moved to
Other Tennessee pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Tennessee and work remotely for a Michigan employer. Which state do I pay?
No state taxes your wages. You perform the work in Tennessee, which levies no personal income tax, and Michigan has no convenience-of-the-employer rule that could reach across the line at you. The employer's address in Michigan creates no Michigan liability on its own.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Neither. There is no state income tax to withhold on either side of this pairing, so a state line on your pay stub for Tennessee or Michigan is an error worth querying.
Does my Michigan employer's location alone create a Michigan tax obligation?
No. Michigan 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 Michigan are a different matter — those are Michigan-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Tennessee and Michigan rules on this page were last checked against Tennessee Department of Revenue and Michigan Department of Treasury 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.
- Tennessee Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Michigan Department of Treasury — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07