Question

As a Fully Remote Non Resident do I pay State Income Tax for Massachusetts?

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
January 21, 2022
2 replies
0 views

I took a new job working fully remote from Texas. The company is in Massachusetts and is withholding MA state income tax. Do i get a refund on these taxes since i spent 0 days working in MA therefore $0 of source income is from MA or is all of my income considered source income for the state?

Note: The job is for a Massachusetts Public institution.

Not A Product Question

T

TomD8

Employee

Massachusetts does not tax the income of nonresident employees who never work in Massachusetts. Nor are MA employers required to withhold MA taxes from those employees' compensation.

https://www.mass.gov/guides/withholding-taxes-on-wages#-employer-responsibilities-

**Answers are correct to the best of my ability but do not constitute tax or legal advice.

M

MayaD

Your income is not considered MA source income. You need to file a Non-Resident MA return to get a refund for taxes withheld. Make sure to enter zero for MA source income.

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A

ascholl33Author

You mean on the state tax return correct?

What’s makes this even more complex is it is for a public institution. Does this now change that answer?

G

GeorgeM777

Yes, as to your first question and No as to your second question. To follow-up on the comments from the previous Expert, given that it appears you are a non-resident of MA, you are not required to file, nor should you file a MA return. The situation might be different had you been a resident of MA but were given the option to work remotely in another State, such as TX. Your employer may be withholding MA taxes because that is their default option for all employees. What you could do is inform your Human Resources department (or whichever department in your company handles matters of this type) and request that they stop withholding for MA as you are not a resident of that State.

To the extent your employer withholds wages for MA, you will need to file a MA return to obtain all of that withholding. The fact that your company is a public institution is not relevant on the issue of whether you should be paying taxes to MA. What is relevant regarding MA and State taxes is whether you are a resident of MA. Because you are not a resident of MA, there is no tax obligation owed to MA.

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