Live in Washington, Work Remotely for a Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts — a state with no convenience rule — means no state withholding and no state return anywhere. Check that your employer is not withholding Massachusetts tax by mistake.
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. Massachusetts does not.
What you file
There is nothing to file in either Washington or Massachusetts 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 | Massachusetts | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — flat |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Form 1-NR/PY |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Schedule OJC |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Washington State Department of Revenue | Massachusetts Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Massachusetts 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 → MassachusettsWork state only
- 1099 contractor: Washington → MassachusettsClient state only, if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Washington → MassachusettsOne part-year return — the state you moved to
Other Washington pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Washington and work remotely for a Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts — a state with no convenience rule — means no state withholding and no state return anywhere. Check that your employer is not withholding Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts is an error worth querying.
Does my Massachusetts employer's location alone create a Massachusetts tax obligation?
No. Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts are a different matter — those are Massachusetts-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Washington and Massachusetts rules on this page were last checked against Washington State Department of Revenue and Massachusetts 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.
- Washington State Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Massachusetts Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07