Live in Kentucky, Work in Nevada: Which State Taxes Your Paycheck?
Answer
Kentucky taxes the income and Nevada cannot. Residency, not the location of the job, drives this answer: Kentucky reaches all of a resident's income, and Nevada has no personal income tax to apply to the part earned inside its borders.
Last verified
Crossing into a state with no income tax does not lower your tax bill, because your home state is not taxing you on where you work — it is taxing you on where you live. Kentucky reaches all of a resident's income, and Nevada adds nothing on top.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Kentucky
File a Kentucky resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Kentucky | Nevada | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — flat | No |
| Reciprocity partners | 7 (Form 42A809) | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 740-NP | Not applicable |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule ITC | No income tax |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | Not applicable |
| Local income tax | Yes | No |
| Revenue department | Kentucky Department of Revenue | Nevada Department of Taxation |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Nevada and working in Kentucky gives:Work 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.
- Remote worker: Kentucky → NevadaHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Kentucky → NevadaHome state only — estimated payments
- Moved mid-year: Kentucky → NevadaOne part-year return — the state you left
Other Kentucky pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Kentucky and work in Nevada. Which state takes the tax out of my paycheck?
Kentucky taxes the income and Nevada cannot. Residency, not the location of the job, drives this answer: Kentucky reaches all of a resident's income, and Nevada has no personal income tax to apply to the part earned inside its borders.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Kentucky. Your employer should withhold Kentucky tax rather than Nevada tax on these wages. If a Nevada line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
How current is this?
The Kentucky and Nevada rules on this page were last checked against Kentucky Department of Revenue and Nevada Department of Taxation 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.
- Kentucky Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Nevada Department of Taxation — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07