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If you live in NH and work in MA, MA taxes you as if you were a resident. I think if you are under a fairly small number of days, you are exempt (e.g. you WFH
by lsllc 6y ago
If you live in NH and work in MA, MA taxes you as if you were a resident. I think if you are under a fairly small number of days, you are exempt (e.g. you WFH permanently in NH and occasionally go to the office in MA for a meeting). More than that and you become a part year resident so your MA tax liability is pro-rated by days_in_ma/365. Anything over I think 180 days and you're just considered a resident and pay 100% (which will be most NH people with MA jobs).
With so many MA employee-but-NH-residents WFH since March, they will now qualify either as a part-year resident and pay the much smaller pro-rated amount under the part year residency rule, or if under the min-days nothing at all.
Predictably MA wants its tax $ and is now going after NH residents who it thinks would normally be working in MA even though they have been out of state.
Of course these NH residents don't get access to any of the services in MA, except for the roads they drive on to get to work (they likely buy their gas and Dunkin' Donuts in NH).
- TuringNYC 6y agoThis sounds like a problem of the employer not having updated payroll systems to reflect the new address of the WFH worker.
- lsllc 6y agoThese folks already live in NH so have a NH address for payroll. The employee would likely have to ask HR to stop MA tax withholding from paychecks (and could file the Form-1 NR/PY to get a refund at the end of the year). Although I suppose not many people would have predicted back in March what was going to happen (at least to the point of changing their tax withholdings for the year).
- beezle 6y agoI think you mean they tax you as a non-resident who is earning income in MA. My understanding is it all comes down to whether or not there is a 'nexus' and that can get some what complicated and states vary considerably as to what constitutes one for tax purposes.