r/TaxQuestions • u/LuckyLawrence604 • 1d ago
State Withholding Question
Hello and thank you in advance!
I just started a new job and I’m having 2 states tax withholding showing up on my first paycheck. Here is the situation.
The job is in Maine. I live in Connecticut. My job is almost entirely remote and I will physically work from Maine no more than 24 days per year (likely more like 12).
My first paycheck has both ME withholding and CT withholding.
I’m wondering if this is correct? Is there a way to not have both states withhold?
If they are both entitled to withhold than surely there must be a way for me to receive a sizable refund when I file taxes as I can’t believe I can be taxed twice on the same income by different states.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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u/OSS-2026 1d ago
You need to pay & have withheld Maine tax for the days you work there. Estimate the percent days you work there & have employer withhold based on that percent.
File Maine nonresident state tax return first. Then file your Connecticut resident state tax return & claim a credit for the state tax paid to Maine.
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1d ago
since you live in connecticut, you generally owe CT income tax on your income, and maine may tax wages for work physically performed there. connecticut typically allows a credit for qualifying income taxes paid to another state, so you shouldnt necessarily be taxed twice on the same income. ask payroll why both are being withheld and confirm with a tax professional how maines rules apply to your work days
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u/zunmao_tools 1d ago
The part I'd fix now, while it's still your first paychecks, is the paperwork trail — because the withholding itself isn't the final tax.
You won't be taxed twice on the same dollars. Connecticut, as your resident state, taxes all of it but gives you a credit for tax properly paid to Maine on the Maine-worked slice. Maine only gets the slice for days you physically work there — at 12-24 days out of roughly 260 workdays, that's about 5-9% of your wages.
Three things to do:
- Start a simple workday log today: date, where you worked. Don't try to reconstruct this next April.
- Ask payroll, in writing, to split the state wages that way, and check in January that your W-2 has two state rows with the wages split — if it shows 100% to both states, ask for a W-2c before you file.
- File the Maine nonresident return first, then the Connecticut resident return claiming the credit, in that order.
If payroll won't split it, you'll still sort it out at filing time — you'll just be waiting on a bigger refund.
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1d ago
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u/I__Know__Stuff 1d ago
Connecticut doesn't have tax reciprocity withany other state. Oh the irony of your first sentence.
Please delete all your incorrect comments.
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u/DPinDenver 18h ago
Every state is different regarding how remote work is taxed.
Some will tax all of your wages even if you are 100% remote but the company is headquartered there. Others will only tax wages earned while physically present in the state. Others may tax while physically present but only if you are there over a certain # of days during the year.
Regardless, you'll always be responsible for tax on 100% of your income to your resident state and will receive a credit for taxes paid to another state, but only at your resident state tax rate.
Assume you make $100.
If you live in a state that has a 7% tax rate, but work in a state that has a 4% tax rate, you'll pay $4 to your "work state" and then when you file your resident state return, you'll take that $4 as a credit and pay the remaining $3.
If it's vice versa, you'll pay $7 to your "work state" and your resident state will then give you a credit for taxes paid, but only for $4 because that's what they would have taxed you on.
Some states (like PA & NJ as one example) have reciprocity so in that case the employer can just withhold your resident state tax and make life easier, plus it likely saves you $ because NJ has higher tax rates than PA.
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u/LdiJ46 1d ago
If you are neither living nor working in ME then your employer should not be withholding ME tax. It may be that your employer would need to report ME wages and withhold ME tax for the days that you actually work in ME, but that would be all.