Live in Virginia, Work in District of Columbia: Which State Taxes Your Paycheck?
Answer
No District of Columbia tax, no District of Columbia return. Working in the District as a Virginia resident produces no District income tax liability at all: Congress removed that power when it granted home rule. Your entire state obligation is the Virginia resident return, and Form D-4A keeps the withholding off your paycheck.
Last verified
Every other work state in this matrix taxes nonresidents on income earned inside it. District of Columbia is the exception, and not by agreement — the restriction is written into the statute that created its self-government, which is why it reaches all fifty states at once.
The District is barred by section 602(a)(5) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act from taxing the income of anyone who is not a District resident. A nonresident working in DC files Form D-4A with their employer to certify nonresidence, and files no District return at all. This is the broadest nonresident exemption in the country and it reaches residents of all fifty states.
The certificate goes to your employer's payroll department, not to District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue, and it is not retroactive — filing it in June does not recover District of Columbia tax withheld in January. That money comes back only by filing a District of Columbia nonresident return for the year and claiming a refund.
What you file
- 1Give to your employer · District of ColumbiaForm D-4A
Give your employer Form D-4A to certify that you do not live in District of Columbia. District of Columbia cannot tax a nonresident's wages, so no District of Columbia return is required.
- 2Resident return · Virginia
File a Virginia resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Virginia | District of Columbia | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | 5 (Form VA-4) | 2 (Form D-4A) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 763 | None — nonresidents exempt |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule OSC | Schedule U (Form D-40) |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | Not applicable |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Virginia Department of Taxation | District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in District of Columbia and working in Virginia gives:Reciprocal agreement — file the exemption form.
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: Virginia → District of ColumbiaHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Virginia → District of ColumbiaHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Virginia → District of ColumbiaTwo part-year returns
Other Virginia pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Virginia and work in District of Columbia. Which state takes the tax out of my paycheck?
No District of Columbia tax, no District of Columbia return. Working in the District as a Virginia resident produces no District income tax liability at all: Congress removed that power when it granted home rule. Your entire state obligation is the Virginia resident return, and Form D-4A keeps the withholding off your paycheck.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Virginia. Your employer should withhold Virginia tax rather than District of Columbia tax on these wages, but only once you have given payroll Form D-4A — the exemption is not automatic and it does not apply retroactively. If a District of Columbia line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
What if District of Columbia tax was already withheld from my pay?
File Form D-4A with your employer to stop it going forward, then recover what was already taken by filing a District of Columbia nonresident return for that year and claiming a refund of the full amount. Virginia will still expect its own tax on the same wages, so do not treat the refund as a windfall.
How current is this?
The Virginia and District of Columbia rules on this page were last checked against Virginia Department of Taxation and District of Columbia Office of Tax and 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.
- Virginia Department of Taxation — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Virginia — Form VA-4accessed 2026-08-07
- Virginia Tax — Reciprocityaccessed 2026-08-07
- District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07