With Disney, beautiful beaches and no income taxes, Florida seems like heaven on Earth!
But what if you live in Florida but travel to a neighboring state for work? Well, working in a state with an income tax while living in Florida means you’ll have to pay taxes to the state you earn your income from.
For Florida residents, working in a bordering state such as Georgia, Alabama or Mississippi, you’ll have to pay tax only on the income you received there. To report this, you will file a non-resident return for the state you work in when filing your taxes.
I Live in Florida and Work in Georgia
According to the Georgia Department of Revenue website, non-residents who work in Georgia or receive income from a Georgia source…
“…are required to file a Federal income tax return and required to file a Georgia income tax return… If you are a legal resident of another state, you are not required to file a Georgia income tax return if your only activity for financial gain or profit in Georgia consists of performing services in Georgia for an employer as an employee when the compensation for services performed does not exceed the lesser of five percent of the income received in all places during the taxable year or $5,000.”
That means if you have income from a job, rental income, income from entities (trusts, estates, partnerships, s-corporations, LLCs) in Georgia, then plan on filing a non-resident tax return for the state and pay Georgia taxes for that income.
Georgia Income Tax Rates (single filers):
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1% on the first $750 of income
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2% on income between $751 and $2,250
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3% on income between $2,251 and $3,750
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4% on income between $3,751 and $5,250
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5% on income between $5,251 and $7000
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6% on income over $7,000
Georgia Income Tax Rates (joint filers):
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1% on the first $1,000 of income
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2% on income between $1,001 and $3,000
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3% on income between $3,001 and $5,000
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4% on income between $5,001 and $7,000
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5% on income between $7,001 and $10,000
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6% on income over $10,000
I Live in Florida and Work in Alabama
If you’re a Florida resident but travel to Alabama for work, you are liable to pay Alabama taxes on the income earned in the state and file a non-resident return for Alabama. According to Alabama’s website, you must file a non-resident Alabama return…
“If you received taxable income from Alabama sources or for performing services within Alabama and your gross income from Alabama sources exceeds the allowable prorated personal exemption. Nonresidents must prorate the personal exemption. If your Alabama gross income exceeds the prorated amount, a return must be filed.”
Alabama Income Tax Rates (single filers):
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2% on first $500 of income
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4% on income between $501 and $3000
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5% on income over $3000.
Alabama Income Tax Rates (joint filers):
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2% on first $1,000 of income
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4% on income between $1,001 and $6,000
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5% on income over $6,000.
I Live in Florida but Work in Mississippi
Florida residents traveling to Mississippi will have to file a non-resident return for Mississippi. According to Mississippi’s website , non-resident filers must;
“Include all income on your Mississippi non-resident return. If you perform services partly in and partly out of the state, only the wages you paid for the services performed in Mississippi are subject to Mississippi income tax. The W-2 forms issued to you from your employer(s) should indicate the state in which the wages were paid, along with the wages you earned in that state.”
Mississippi Income Tax Rates (single filers):
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3% on first $5,000 of income
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4% on income between $5,001 and $10,000
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5% on income over $10,000.
Filing a joint tax return for Mississippi? The rates will remain the same.
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Interstate taxation can get confusing, especially if you live in a state without an income tax, like Florida. The general rule of thumb is that you will have to file a non-resident return in the state you worked in but did not live in and report only the income earned in that state.
If you’re a Florida Resident, you’ll need to file your federal taxes. If you worked in states outside of the Florida lines, don’t forget to file a non-resident return for those states.
I live in Florida, work for an LLC out of Florida. We do construction work in various states. Last year, did work in 7 states other than florida. Should my employer be withholding taxes from each of those states, or at the least, should I be filing non-resident tax information with each of those states?
Hi Jon,
This always tends to be a complicated situation for taxpayers; mainly because each state has different rules when it comes to taxing non-resident income. Certain states will begin taxing individuals on the very day they begin conducting business while other states will give non-residents a time threshold to not be taxed until after a certain amount of days/weeks. If your employer is not withholding taxes from each state that you do business in, you could still be responsible for reporting the income earned on state tax returns. In order to see each states guidelines, you will need to either take a look at the government website or contact someone directly from each state office. For example, I have included the link to Florida’s state page HERE.
My son is from Maine, he went to college in CT with his girlfriend almost 3 years ago and got an apartment instead of living on campus. After one year he decided to go to work instead of back to college. His girlfriend stayed in college and is now a Junior. They are staying in CT until she graduates next year. In the mean time he lives in CT, work in CT and only comes back to Maine for 1 week in the summer and 1 week in Dec to visit. Does he have to pay Maine State taxes? He did last year as on the tax form he put Maine as his residence. He still has a Maine drivers license. If he now puts is CT address does he have to get a CT drivers license?
Hi Kevin,
For tax purposes, a driver’s license does not determine your residency. However, he will need to see if he is considered to be a CT state resident. He can determine that on the CT government website HERE. If so, then he will need to file a CT resident state tax return.
**Note: He should also apply for a CT driver’s license if he IS a state resident. He can check out the rules HERE.
I live in Tennessee but I worked in Georgia for 5 months and Georgia state income tax was withheld. I know some states don’t require you to pay state income taxes if you worked there less than 6 months. Is this true for Georgia? What type of form do I need to file in order to get my withholding refunded?
Hi Scott,
If you are a resident of Tennessee and only earned money as an employee in Georgia, then you don’t need to file a Georgia return if the money you earned in Georgia is not more than $5,000, or 5 percent of your total income, whichever is less. Since you had GA tax withheld, you can file a GA non-resident state return. You should be issued a GA state refund.
I earned $26,000 and that was my only earnings for the year from any source and it was in Georgia. I only lived there 5 months. I guess since it was over $5000 that means I may get some refunded but not all of it?
I have an employee whose primary residence is Florida but commutes to Connecticut weekly for work. Florida has no tax, however he should be set up to have CT state tax withheld because he works there, correct?
Hi Sarah,
You are correct. Employees are responsible for state taxes where they live and where they physically work to earn their income.
My primary residence is in Florida however I work in Washington state. Since there are no state income taxes in either state where do I pay my taxes?
Hi Mike,
Consider yourself one of the lucky ones! Since you live and work in two income tax-free states, you will only need to file a federal tax return to the IRS. Although you are not filing separate state tax returns, you will report ALL income earned (regardless of the state) on your federal tax return.