Do I have to file taxes for the University of Vermont and for Pennsylvania State University if I worked from home in Florida?

Q. If I work, from my home in Florida, for both  University of Vermont and for Pennsylvania State University, do I have to file and pay state tax to VT and PA?

A. No.  If you never physically worked in PA or VT, you are not required to pay taxes to those states, or file state returns, even if your employer or client is located there. 

 

Florida does not have a state income tax. But, for people in your situation, who live in states with an income tax, they do have to pay tax on that income to their home state. 

Caveat: Unlike VT, PA has a "convenience of the employer" rule for non-resident remote employees.  (Note: the "convenience" rule applies only to W-2 employees; it does not apply if you are paid as an independent contractor, and your income is reported on a 1099-NEC instead of a W-2.)

 

Here is the rule:

 

The Convenience of the Employer Doctrine

Pennsylvania, like many other states, follows the “convenience-of-the-employer” doctrine. It provides that compensation for services performed by nonresidents cannot be allocated to the services’ actual places of performance if they were performed there only for the employee’s convenience or if they were not performed there “of necessity in the service of the employer”. In these instances, the compensation must be allocated only to the state (or among the states) where the employee is of necessity performing actual services in the service, and for the convenience, of the employer.

The only factors considered under this doctrine are:

• Whether the services performed by an individual outside the taxing jurisdiction were performed in the service, and for the benefit, of the individual’s employer; and
• Whether such services were such that they could have been performed at an office of the employer within the taxing jurisdiction (or could have been performed at an office of the employer within the taxing jurisdiction had the employer made suitable accommodations available to the employee).

Consequently, under the “convenience-of-the-employer” doctrine, allocation depends upon whether the services in question are of a character required to be performed away from an office of the employer and outside the taxing jurisdiction or require highly specialized facilities not available at or near an office of the employer.

https://www.pa.gov/agencies/revenue/forms-and-publications/pa-personal-income-tax-guide/gross-compensation.html

 

Basically the rule is that your remotely earned W-2 income is taxable by PA unless your services were "required" to be performed from a location outside PA.

 

As @Hal_Al said, VT in contrast taxes non-residents only on income derived from services physically rendered within VT.