I suspect we haven't heard the last of these cases though.
As I understand the NH and MA case, this is about continuing to collect state income tax from NH residents who are no longer commuting. Presumably, it does not apply to remote NH residents who never commuted to a MA location. (The situation of course gets even more complicated when a NH resident is remote to a company that has offices in many states. Why would MA have any particular right to state income tax just because an MA office is closer?)
States are getting very grabby in this regard though. Quite a few are going after business travelers who may have spent as little as a day in the state.
> (The situation of course gets even more complicated when a NH resident is remote to a company that has offices in many states. Why would MA have any particular right to state income tax just because an MA office is closer?)
I do not see it as complicated. Either a state is restricted to being able to tax income from work performed within its geographic boundaries, or it is not. If it is not, then I do not see why every state cannot tax every single employee of any business that has any presence in the state.
Very surprised this Supreme Court declined to hear it with only 2 Justices disagreeing.
It's complicated in that states have a bunch of different rules, are apparently inconsistent in applying them, and there is also apparently not clear precedent. I agree that this seems a case tailor made for SCOTUS to have taken.
Here's just one "it's complicated" example. Say I lived in NH (I don't) and worked remote. (And let's simplify and imagine I never went to an office.) My closest office would be, in fact, be in Massachusetts but HQ is in North Carolina. Why would I pay MA given that I don't live or work there? Maybe I should pay NC? But now you've created a situation where heavily remote companies should establish HQs in no income tax states.
As I also noted, there are a bunch of theoretical rules related to business travel that haven't been historically enforced in most cases but seem to be increasingly so. Which may mean that a lot of employees may increasingly have to file multiple state returns depending upon various thresholds.
(It’s a small enough group of people and the per-game incomes high enough to go after as compared to my income for the days I attend a conference somewhere.)
I think I knew that. And I've also known execs who spent substantial time between multiple offices who tracked for tax purposes.
However, for example, Concur now has an auditing service through E&Y for business travel in the US generally. It was implemented fairly recently and I unsurprisingly haven't traveled much but I did have one trip that triggered a "Is it correct you worked in this state for these three days" email so I guess I'll see what happens.
