Live in Washington, Work Remotely for a Minnesota Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Your employer's state gets nothing, and neither does yours. Wages are sourced to where the work is physically done — Washington, which does not tax them — and Minnesota does not run a rule that would source your remote days back to it. No withholding, no returns.
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. Minnesota does not.
What you file
There is nothing to file in either Washington or Minnesota 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 | Minnesota | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | 2 (Form MWR) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Form M1 with Schedule M1NR |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Schedule M1CR |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Washington State Department of Revenue | Minnesota Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Minnesota 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 → MinnesotaWork state only
- 1099 contractor: Washington → MinnesotaClient state only, if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Washington → MinnesotaOne part-year return — the state you moved to
Other Washington pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Washington and work remotely for a Minnesota employer. Which state do I pay?
Your employer's state gets nothing, and neither does yours. Wages are sourced to where the work is physically done — Washington, which does not tax them — and Minnesota does not run a rule that would source your remote days back to it. No withholding, no returns.
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 Minnesota is an error worth querying.
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 Washington and Minnesota rules on this page were last checked against Washington State Department of Revenue 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.
- Washington State Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Minnesota Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07