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Live in Utah, Work in Virginia: Which State Taxes Your Paycheck?

Both states — credit offsets the double taxVirginia withholds

Answer

Virginia withholds and Utah credits. Without an agreement between them, both states are entitled to tax income earned in Virginia by a Utah resident. The mechanism that stops you paying twice is the credit on the Utah resident return, which is why the Virginia return has to be completed first.

Last verified

Two states can lawfully tax the same wages: Virginia because the work happened there, Utah because you live there. Nothing prevents the overlap in advance — it is unwound afterwards, on the Utah return, through the credit for taxes paid to another state.

A Utah resident taxed by another state on the same income claims the credit for taxes paid to other states on Schedule TC-40S. The credit is capped at the Utah tax on that income, so it removes the double tax but never refunds the excess when the other state charges more.

What you file

  1. 1Nonresident return · VirginiaForm 763

    File the Virginia nonresident return FIRST — you need the Virginia tax figure before you can complete Utah.

  2. 2Resident return · UtahSchedule TC-40S

    File a Utah resident return reporting all income, then claim the credit for tax paid to Virginia. The credit is capped at what Utah would have charged on that same income, so if Virginia taxes it at a higher rate the difference is not refunded.

The two states, side by side

 UtahVirginia
Taxes wagesYes — flatYes — graduated
Reciprocity partnersNone5 (Form VA-4)
Convenience ruleNoNo
Nonresident returnForm TC-40 with Schedule TC-40BForm 763
Credit for other-state taxSchedule TC-40SSchedule OSC
Nonresident safe harbourNone publishedNone published
Local income taxNoNo
Revenue departmentUtah State Tax CommissionVirginia Department of Taxation
Last verified

The other direction

Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Virginia and working in Utah gives:Both states — credit offsets the double tax.

Virginia to Utah →

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.

Other Utah pairs

Questions people actually ask

I live in Utah and work in Virginia. Which state takes the tax out of my paycheck?

Virginia withholds and Utah credits. Without an agreement between them, both states are entitled to tax income earned in Virginia by a Utah resident. The mechanism that stops you paying twice is the credit on the Utah resident return, which is why the Virginia return has to be completed first.

Which state should my employer be withholding for?

Virginia. The wages are sourced to Virginia, so Virginia withholding is correct and there is no Utah withholding to set up.

Will I end up paying tax twice on the same income?

Not twice over, but you will pay the higher of the two rates. Utah gives residents a credit for tax paid to Virginia on the same income, claimed on Schedule TC-40S. The credit is capped at the Utah tax on that income, so if Virginia taxes it more heavily the excess is not refunded by either state.

How current is this?

The Utah and Virginia rules on this page were last checked against Utah State Tax Commission and Virginia 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.