Live in South Dakota, Work in Arizona: Which State Taxes Your Paycheck?
Answer
Arizona withholds, South Dakota does not. As a South Dakota resident you have no home-state income tax return at all, so the Arizona nonresident return is the whole of your state filing. Nothing offsets the Arizona tax, because a credit has to be claimed against a home-state tax that does not exist.
Last verified
This is the mirror image of the more common commute. There is no home-state return to file, so the Arizona nonresident return carries the whole obligation — and because South Dakota charges nothing, there is no credit mechanism involved anywhere.
What you file
- 1Nonresident return · ArizonaForm 140NR
File a Arizona nonresident return for the wages you earned in Arizona. South Dakota has no wage income tax, so there is no second return and no credit to claim.
The two states, side by side
| South Dakota | Arizona | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Form 140NR |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Form 309 |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | South Dakota Department of Revenue | Arizona Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Arizona and working in South Dakota 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.
- Remote worker: South Dakota → ArizonaNo state income tax on your wages
- 1099 contractor: South Dakota → ArizonaClient state only, if you work there
- Moved mid-year: South Dakota → ArizonaOne part-year return — the state you moved to
Other South Dakota pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in South Dakota and work in Arizona. Which state takes the tax out of my paycheck?
Arizona withholds, South Dakota does not. As a South Dakota resident you have no home-state income tax return at all, so the Arizona nonresident return is the whole of your state filing. Nothing offsets the Arizona tax, because a credit has to be claimed against a home-state tax that does not exist.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Arizona. The wages are sourced to Arizona, so Arizona withholding is correct and there is no South Dakota withholding to set up, because South Dakota levies no income tax on wages.
How current is this?
The South Dakota and Arizona rules on this page were last checked against South Dakota Department of Revenue and Arizona 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.
- South Dakota Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Arizona Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07