New Hampshire workers being taxed by Massachusetts even when working from home

By John Suayan | The Center Square

The plan by Massachusetts officials to continue taxing telecommuters from New Hampshire has received criticism, with concerns that a new type of border war is on the horizon.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic forced many employees to shift from their offices to their dining rooms, New Hampshire residents who traveled into the Bay State for work paid an income tax to verify their out-of-state employment.

After New England began to record its own infections, Massachusetts Gov. Chris Baker made his intentions to continue taxing workers from New Hampshire – even if they were relegated to telecommuting – known.

Massachusetts’s Department of Revenue continued to collect income tax from homebound out-of-state workers, with plans to do so until the end of the year, The Boston Globe reported. A day in which an New Hampshire employee clocks in from home is classified as in an office day under Baker’s guidelines.

New Hampshire lawmakers expressed indignation toward Massachusetts’s actions. Gov. Chris Sununu instructed his attorney general to review the taxation rules of New Hampshire’s neighbors to make sure constituents are not being singled out for taxes they should not be paying.

Sununu, a Republican, said about 84,000 New Hampshire residents regularly commuted south across state lines pre-pandemic.

The outrage is bipartisan as two Democratic New Hampshire state senators sent a letter to Massachusetts revenue commissioner Geoffrey Snyder criticizing Massachusetts’ plans to impose taxes on New Hampshire residents forced to telecommute through the end of 2020 or whenever Baker lifts the state of emergency.

“The notion that New Hampshire residents who are, in many cases, doing the safe thing [and staying home] and are getting penalized for doing that, is anti-worker and anti-public health,” state Sen. Dan Feltes, a one of the letter’s co-authors and a Democrat who is running for New Hampshire governor, told The Boston Globe. “It seems like a prelude to a long-term rule that hurts New Hampshire workers.”

Image courtesy of Public domain

4 thoughts on “New Hampshire workers being taxed by Massachusetts even when working from home

  1. Vermont has always done this. There are a lot of people that live in either NH, NY or MA but they still pay wage taxes to Vermont if employed by a Vermont business or state entity.

    • Not sure that is all correct. If you live in VT, and work in NY, you do not have to pay taxes on the income for days when you were not actually working in NY. Its a complicated tax return and you need records.

  2. This issue, I believe, is applicable to Vermont in that Vermont would be losing income to Massachusetts. Then again maybe Massachusetts is only targeting New Hampshire.

  3. Anyone that knows N’Hampsha knows that we have a BIG Problem with taxation.
    And I’m happy to see that we’ve even rubbed off on the Democrats a bit about it..

    It’s nice to be on the same page for once- it doesn’t happen often enough anymore.

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