Live in Virginia, Work Remotely for a New Jersey Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Virginia gets all of it. Because New Jersey does not tax wage income, no New Jersey withholding exists and no New Jersey return is required — but Virginia taxes residents on worldwide income, so every dollar earned in New Jersey still belongs on your Virginia resident return.
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. Virginia reaches all of a resident's income, and New Jersey adds nothing on top.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Virginia
File a Virginia resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Virginia | New Jersey | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | 5 (Form VA-4) | 1 (Form NJ-165) |
| Convenience rule | No | Only against convenience-rule states |
| Nonresident return | Form 763 | Form NJ-1040NR |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule OSC | Schedule NJ-COJ |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Virginia Department of Taxation | New Jersey Division of Taxation |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in New Jersey 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 → New JerseyBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- 1099 contractor: Virginia → New JerseyHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Virginia → New JerseyTwo part-year returns
Other Virginia pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Virginia and work remotely for a New Jersey employer. Which state do I pay?
Virginia gets all of it. Because New Jersey does not tax wage income, no New Jersey withholding exists and no New Jersey return is required — but Virginia taxes residents on worldwide income, so every dollar earned in New Jersey still belongs on your Virginia resident return.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Virginia. Your employer should withhold Virginia tax rather than New Jersey tax on these wages. If a New Jersey line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
Does my New Jersey employer's location alone create a New Jersey tax obligation?
No. New Jersey 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 New Jersey are a different matter — those are New Jersey-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Virginia and New Jersey rules on this page were last checked against Virginia Department of Taxation and New Jersey Division of Taxation 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
- New Jersey Division of Taxation — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- New Jersey Division of Taxation — Convenience of the Employer Ruleaccessed 2026-08-07