Live in Washington, Work Remotely for a West Virginia Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
No state taxes your wages. You perform the work in Washington, which levies no personal income tax, and West Virginia has no convenience-of-the-employer rule that could reach across the line at you. The employer's address in West Virginia creates no West Virginia liability on its own.
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.
West Virginia also has a layer below the state one, and it is the layer that survives every agreement: Some West Virginia municipalities levy a flat weekly city service fee on people who work in the city. It is a fixed charge rather than a percentage of income, so no credit offsets it.
What you file
There is nothing to file in either Washington or West Virginia 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 | West Virginia | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | 5 (Form WV/IT-104) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Form IT-140 with Schedule A |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Schedule E (Form IT-140) |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | Yes |
| Revenue department | Washington State Department of Revenue | West Virginia Tax Division |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in West Virginia 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 → West VirginiaWork state only
- 1099 contractor: Washington → West VirginiaClient state only, if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Washington → West VirginiaOne part-year return — the state you moved to
Other Washington pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Washington and work remotely for a West Virginia employer. Which state do I pay?
No state taxes your wages. You perform the work in Washington, which levies no personal income tax, and West Virginia has no convenience-of-the-employer rule that could reach across the line at you. The employer's address in West Virginia creates no West Virginia liability on its own.
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 West Virginia is an error worth querying.
Does my West Virginia employer's location alone create a West Virginia tax obligation?
No. West Virginia 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 West Virginia are a different matter — those are West Virginia-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Washington and West Virginia rules on this page were last checked against Washington State Department of Revenue and West Virginia Tax Division 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
- West Virginia Tax Division — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07