State tax

[KandWyandle]

I lived in Washington state for 3/4 of 2020 and then moved to Louisiana but still worked for the same Washington company. Do I need to file a Louisiana tax return?

Thank you!  

[ErnieS0]

Yes. File a part-year Louisiana income tax return. Once you became a Louisiana resident, income earned anywhere becomes taxable to The Pelican State. Louisiana says, “If a Louisiana resident earns income in another state, that income is also taxable by Louisiana.”

If you employer is not withholding Louisiana income tax, file a Form L-4 with your employer to get state tax withheld.

Related Resource:

• Individual Income Tax

[awburrell]

HI @ErnieS0,

I'm in a similar situation. I live in Louisiana and I'm now working for an employer that is located in North Carolina. They do not have any other employees in Louisiana, and thus are not sure what taxes I/they should be paying to North Carolina and/or Louisiana. Do I have to pay both North Carolina and Louisiana state income taxes? What guidance should I provide my employer regarding this matter.

[TomD8]

@awburrell --

Your home state of Louisiana can tax all your income, regardless of where you earn it.  North Carolina can tax you on income from work actually carried out in NC.  So there are two scenarios:

Scenario One:  If you actually (physically) work in NC, your employer should withhold NC taxes.  In this situation you will be filing both a non-resident NC return and a resident LA return, but LA will give you a credit for the taxes paid to NC.  Thus most, if not all, of your state taxes will be due to NC.

Scenario Two:  If you never work in NC, and your work is carried on entirely remotely from a Louisiana location, they should only withhold Louisiana taxes.  In this situation you would not have to file an NC return.  You would file only in Louisiana.

[DawnC]

Your employer should be withholding taxes for the state you are working from.    If you are working in LA, you owe tax to LA.   If you do work in NC, you owe tax to NC for the work you do while you are physically present in NC.   If you lived and worked only in LA during 2021, you don't owe anything to NC.   If your employer withheld tax for a state you have never worked in, you will need to file a nonresident return to get those taxes back.   @awburrell 

Out-Of-State Employer Issues

Give your employer a completed L-4 Form so they withhold taxes for your resident state - Louisiana.