Live in Washington, Work Remotely for a Tennessee Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Neither state taxes your wages. Washington and Tennessee both levy no personal income tax on earned income, so nothing is withheld for either one and you file no state return on either side. Your only wage-tax obligation is the federal one, and no reciprocity form or credit is involved anywhere.
Last verified
Nine states levy no personal income tax on wages, and both ends of this commute are among them. That makes Washington to Tennessee one of the few pairings where the usual questions — who withholds, which return comes first, whether a credit covers the gap — simply do not arise.
What you file
There is nothing to file in either Washington or Tennessee 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 | Tennessee | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | No |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | No income tax |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Washington State Department of Revenue | Tennessee Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Tennessee and working in Washington gives:No state income tax either side.
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 → TennesseeNo state income tax either side
- 1099 contractor: Washington → TennesseeNo state income tax either side
- Moved mid-year: Washington → TennesseeNo state return either side
Other Washington pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Washington and work remotely for a Tennessee employer. Which state do I pay?
Neither state taxes your wages. Washington and Tennessee both levy no personal income tax on earned income, so nothing is withheld for either one and you file no state return on either side. Your only wage-tax obligation is the federal one, and no reciprocity form or credit is involved anywhere.
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 Tennessee is an error worth querying.
How current is this?
The Washington and Tennessee rules on this page were last checked against Washington State Department of Revenue and Tennessee 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
- Tennessee Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07