Live in Virginia, Work Remotely for a Minnesota Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Only Virginia taxes you. Minnesota levies no personal income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld there and you file no Minnesota return. Virginia taxes its residents on all income wherever earned, which means your Minnesota earnings go on a Virginia resident return in full.
Last verified
The instinct that working in a no-tax state means paying no tax is the single most expensive misunderstanding in this niche. Minnesota takes nothing, but Virginia still taxes residents on income earned anywhere, so the full amount lands on your Virginia return.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Virginia
File a Virginia resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Virginia | Minnesota | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | 5 (Form VA-4) | 2 (Form MWR) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 763 | Form M1 with Schedule M1NR |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule OSC | Schedule M1CR |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Virginia Department of Taxation | Minnesota Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Minnesota and working in Virginia 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: Virginia → MinnesotaBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: Virginia → MinnesotaHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Virginia → MinnesotaTwo part-year returns
Other Virginia pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Virginia and work remotely for a Minnesota employer. Which state do I pay?
Only Virginia taxes you. Minnesota levies no personal income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld there and you file no Minnesota return. Virginia taxes its residents on all income wherever earned, which means your Minnesota earnings go on a Virginia resident return in full.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Virginia. Your employer should withhold Virginia tax rather than Minnesota tax on these wages. If a Minnesota line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my Minnesota employer's location alone create a Minnesota tax obligation?
No. Minnesota 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 Minnesota are a different matter — those are Minnesota-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Virginia and Minnesota rules on this page were last checked against Virginia Department of Taxation and Minnesota 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.
- Virginia Department of Taxation — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Virginia — Form VA-4accessed 2026-08-07
- Virginia Tax — Reciprocityaccessed 2026-08-07
- Minnesota Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07