Live in Tennessee, Work in Washington: Which State Taxes Your Paycheck?
Answer
You owe state income tax to nobody. Because Tennessee and Washington are both among the nine states that do not tax wage income, there is no withholding to argue about and no return to file in either state — federal tax is the entire obligation.
Last verified
Most of the difficulty in multi-state wage tax comes from two states claiming the same income. Here neither one claims it. Tennessee and Washington both sit outside the state income tax system, so there is no competition to resolve.
What you file
There is nothing to file in either Tennessee or Washington on these wages. Your federal return is unaffected — the federal government taxes the income whatever the states do.
The two states, side by side
| Tennessee | Washington | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Tennessee Department of Revenue | Washington State Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Washington and working in Tennessee 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.
- Remote worker: Tennessee → WashingtonNo state income tax either side
- 1099 contractor: Tennessee → WashingtonNo state income tax either side
- Moved mid-year: Tennessee → WashingtonNo state return either side
Other Tennessee pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Tennessee and work in Washington. Which state takes the tax out of my paycheck?
You owe state income tax to nobody. Because Tennessee and Washington are both among the nine states that do not tax wage income, there is no withholding to argue about and no return to file in either state — federal tax is the entire obligation.
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 Tennessee or Washington is an error worth querying.
How current is this?
The Tennessee and Washington rules on this page were last checked against Tennessee Department of Revenue and Washington State 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.
- Tennessee Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Washington State Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07