Live in Washington, Work Remotely for a Idaho Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
This is the best case in the whole matrix. Living in a no-income-tax state and working remotely for an employer in Idaho — a state with no convenience rule — means no state withholding and no state return anywhere. Check that your employer is not withholding Idaho tax by mistake.
Last verified
An employer's address is not a tax nexus for its employees. Working from Washington keeps the income Washington-source, and since Washington levies no tax on wages, the income lands nowhere at all.
What you file
There is nothing to file in either Washington or Idaho on these wages. Your federal return is unaffected — the federal government taxes the income whatever the states do.
The two states, side by side
| Washington | Idaho | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — flat |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Form 43 |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Form 39NR |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Washington State 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 Washington 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: Washington → IdahoWork state only
- 1099 contractor: Washington → IdahoClient state only, if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Washington → IdahoOne part-year return — the state you moved to
Other Washington pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Washington and work remotely for a Idaho employer. Which state do I pay?
This is the best case in the whole matrix. Living in a no-income-tax state and working remotely for an employer in Idaho — a state with no convenience rule — means no state withholding and no state return anywhere. Check that your employer is not withholding Idaho tax by mistake.
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 Washington or Idaho is an error worth querying.
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 Washington and Idaho rules on this page were last checked against Washington State 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.
- Washington State Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Idaho State Tax Commission — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07