Live in Texas, Work in Montana: Which State Taxes Your Paycheck?
Answer
One return, filed in Montana. Your employer withholds Montana tax on the wages you earn there and you settle up on a Montana nonresident return. Texas does not tax wages, so this pair produces a single state filing rather than two.
Last verified
Living in a state with no income tax removes the resident return, but it does not shelter income you earn somewhere else. Montana taxes what is earned inside Montana, whoever earns it, and a nonresident return is how that gets settled.
What you file
- 1Nonresident return · MontanaForm 2 with the nonresident/part-year schedule
File a Montana nonresident return for the wages you earned in Montana. Texas has no wage income tax, so there is no second return and no credit to claim.
The two states, side by side
| Texas | Montana | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | 1 (Form MW-4) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Form 2 with the nonresident/part-year schedule |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Form 2 (credit for income tax paid to another state) |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts | Montana Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Montana and working in Texas 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: Texas → MontanaNo state income tax on your wages
- 1099 contractor: Texas → MontanaClient state only, if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Texas → MontanaOne part-year return — the state you moved to
Other Texas pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Texas and work in Montana. Which state takes the tax out of my paycheck?
One return, filed in Montana. Your employer withholds Montana tax on the wages you earn there and you settle up on a Montana nonresident return. Texas does not tax wages, so this pair produces a single state filing rather than two.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Montana. The wages are sourced to Montana, so Montana withholding is correct and there is no Texas withholding to set up, because Texas levies no income tax on wages.
How current is this?
The Texas and Montana rules on this page were last checked against Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and Montana 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.
- Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Montana Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07