tax-law
Non resident tax while working remotely
<p>I am an F1 student on OPT and my employer is based out of Washington. This would be my only source of income. Given the remote work situation now, I am planning to stay in a different state and work. As I am a non resident in the state that I am temporarily in and my income source is only in Washington, would I owe taxes in my current state. Specifically, I am thinking about Georgia and Missouri.</p>

<p>According to <a href="https://dor.georgia.gov/filing-requirements" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this Georgia web page</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Non-residents who work in Georgia or receive income from Georgia sources and are required to file a Federal income tax return are required to file a Georgia Form 500 Individual Income Tax Return.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>If you are a legal resident of another state, you are not required to file a Georgia income tax return if:</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Your only activity for financial gain or profit in Georgia consists of performing services in Georgia for an employer as an employee</li>
<li>The compensation for services performed does not exceed the lesser of five percent of the wages in all places or $5,000.00</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>Thus if you have no income from Georgia sources at all, and are only temporarily in Georgia, but are not a legal resident there, there should be no income tax liability to Georgia.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://dor.mo.gov/faq/personal/nonresident.php" rel="nofollow noreferrer">corresponding Missouri page</a> is not as clear, but similar rules seem to apply. <a href="https://vt17.vtserver.com/kb/default.asp?a=466" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This other page</a> says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If the taxpayer is required to file a federal return, the taxpayer must file a Missouri return unless he or she meets one of the following requirements:</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>The taxpayer is a nonresident and has less than $600 of Missouri adjusted gross income, or</li>
<li>The taxpayer's Missouri adjusted gross income is less than the amount of the taxpayer's standard deduction plus the exemption amount for the taxpayer's filing status.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>The first of these seems to apply to the situation in the question.</p>
<p>However note that in Missouri:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A resident is an individual who either maintained a domicile in Missouri or did not maintain a domicile in Missouri but did have permanent living quarters and spent more than 183 days of the taxable year in Missouri.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Even a fairly temporary  stay might count as &quot;maintaining a domicile&quot; and thus put a person into the class of &quot;part-year resident&quot; and thus require filing and paying tax. Similar rules seem to apply in Georgia. Be careful as the legal definition of &quot;resident&quot; may not be what one thinks it is.</p>
