Live in Montana, Work in Florida: Which State Taxes Your Paycheck?
Answer
Montana taxes the income and Florida cannot. Residency, not the location of the job, drives this answer: Montana reaches all of a resident's income, and Florida 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. Montana reaches all of a resident's income, and Florida adds nothing on top.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Montana
File a Montana resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Montana | Florida | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | No |
| Reciprocity partners | 1 (Form MW-4) | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 2 with the nonresident/part-year schedule | Not applicable |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form 2 (credit for income tax paid to another state) | No income tax |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | Not applicable |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Montana Department of Revenue | Florida Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Florida and working in Montana 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: Montana → FloridaHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Montana → FloridaHome state only — estimated payments
- Moved mid-year: Montana → FloridaOne part-year return — the state you left
Other Montana pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Montana and work in Florida. Which state takes the tax out of my paycheck?
Montana taxes the income and Florida cannot. Residency, not the location of the job, drives this answer: Montana reaches all of a resident's income, and Florida has no personal income tax to apply to the part earned inside its borders.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Montana. Your employer should withhold Montana tax rather than Florida tax on these wages. If a Florida line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
How current is this?
The Montana and Florida rules on this page were last checked against Montana Department of Revenue and Florida 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.
- Montana Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Florida Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07