Live in Tennessee, Work Remotely for a South Carolina Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Nothing is owed on either side. Tennessee has no wage income tax, and South Carolina taxes nonresidents only on work actually performed inside South Carolina. Never setting foot in South Carolina keeps the income entirely outside its reach, so this pair produces no state return at all.
Last verified
An employer's address is not a tax nexus for its employees. Working from Tennessee keeps the income Tennessee-source, and since Tennessee levies no tax on wages, the income lands nowhere at all.
What you file
There is nothing to file in either Tennessee or South Carolina 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 | South Carolina | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Form SC1040 with Schedule NR |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Form SC1040TC |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Tennessee Department of Revenue | South Carolina Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in South Carolina 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 → South CarolinaWork state only
- 1099 contractor: Tennessee → South CarolinaClient state only, if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Tennessee → South CarolinaOne part-year return — the state you moved to
Other Tennessee pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Tennessee and work remotely for a South Carolina employer. Which state do I pay?
Nothing is owed on either side. Tennessee has no wage income tax, and South Carolina taxes nonresidents only on work actually performed inside South Carolina. Never setting foot in South Carolina keeps the income entirely outside its reach, so this pair produces no state return at all.
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 South Carolina is an error worth querying.
Does my South Carolina employer's location alone create a South Carolina tax obligation?
No. South Carolina 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 South Carolina are a different matter — those are South Carolina-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Tennessee and South Carolina rules on this page were last checked against Tennessee Department of Revenue and South Carolina 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.
- Tennessee Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- South Carolina Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07