On Nh living and commutes..

[bmcculley at rcn.com]

>From: Bruce Dawson <jbd at codemeta.com>  
>Subject: Re: On Nh living and commutes..  

>Ummm. I surprised that no one mentioned this before. If
you're paid from
>a MA company, there are no income tax benefits to living in
NH and
>working in MA. You still have to pay MA income tax - your
company will
>automatically take it out of your paycheck.

Actually I believe there are some benefits, although you are
certainly not tax free.

As I recall, if you are a non-resident of MA you are not taxed
for money earned working outside the state, regardless of
corporate home.  So if you live in NH, work in Cambridge for a
local MA company but spend a week at a customer site in LA you
are not subject to MA tax for that week, as I understand it.

Also, if you work offsite a lot and the company is supportive
of it, you might be able to have your official workplace be
designated outside of MA.  It probably helps if the company is
either (a) not MA domiciled or (b) has non-MA locations.  I've
had firsthand experience with this in the past, and recently
interviewed with a company that offered this.  They are not MA
headquartered, have non-MA locations, and I would be working
at various sites around the entire Northeast region although
attached to a group in the 128 office - the only limitation
they stated was that they would not provide office space in
their 128 location if I was designated as a remote employee
(seems reasonable to me!).

So there are some possible tax advantages, it's just that you
are not entirely tax free.  DISCLAIMER:  I am not a qualified
accountant, check with one before taking anything said here as
gospel truth.

-Bruce McCulley
freelance CISSP