Anyone understand this business of MA changing tax law for out of staters working from home?

[Broc]

I'm moving to NH in a few weeks, and my company agreed to make me a perm remote NH resident worker. Corp office is Boston, but we have branches in NH. Hoping this means I don't have to pay MA taxes.

You should be fine. You are remote and in NH.

But you should have asked your company before moving.

That being said, some companies are a gigantic pain to get useful salary info. I work for a fortune 50 company and I can't find anyone that can answer a simple question... am I getting differential pay for living in Massachusetts?

If the answer is "NO" then I'm getting the f*** out of here.

 

[Dennis in MA]

As a follow-up, from the Globe:

Massachusetts wants to keep taxing telecommuters from N.H., stirring up a new kind of border war - The Boston Globe

A border war is brewing over a lucrative prize: the income taxes paid to Massachusetts by thousands of New Hampshire commuters-turned-telecommuters.

www.bostonglobe.com

84k people making maybe 100k each is a missed $400mil. That’s 1.3% of the state budget. Go find your $ elsewhere Charlie.

 

[teamRR]

One unfortunate detail here is no matter how bad this sort of thing pisses off NH residents we can't even express it at the ballot box. And although in this company here I think everyone gets it, many MA residents probably can't fathom the concept of escaping state tax and think we are just being greedy.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

" said these workers are often logging into computer servers in Massachusetts, one of several factors that give the state enough jurisdiction to impose the tax. "

I still live in the DPRM so the NH thing does not apply to me at present, however, I login to systems in several states - Southeast, Midwest, and West Coast as my primary development machines. I have no idea what state the email server and corporate intranet website is hosted in. So should I expect a tax bill from each of the states with a system I use every day?

 

[teamRR]

" said these workers are often logging into computer servers in Massachusetts, one of several factors that give the state enough jurisdiction to impose the tax. "

I still live in the DPRM so the NH thing does not apply to me at present, however, I login to systems in several states - Southeast, Midwest, and West Coast as my primary development machines. I have no idea what state the email server and corporate intranet website is hosted in. So should I expect a tax bill from each of the states with a system I use every day?

Well if that's all it takes to avoid paying MA tax the solution is pretty simple. Obviously that was just thrown out in an effort to come up with any half ass justification but I don't think they would like setting that precedent in the long run.

Moving forward I will be sure to use the NC or GA VPN sites.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

MA DOR are thieves and will do whatever they please. MA marsupial courts will back them up. Only in a Federal court might this BS get overturned, but pursuing it in a MA state court is a waste of time and losing proposition.

"State needs the money" is a well established legal doctrine in MA course.

Examples set or upheld by the MA SJC:

• $75 to confront your accuser in a traffic violation case; no refund even if you are not found responsible.
  
  
• Persons allowing adult children to live with them are implicitly agreeing to fund any legal defense for said children, and they are not entitled to a public defender.