30-Day Safe Harbor for Traveling Employees

Providing a minimum 30-day safe harbor for personal income tax filing obligations to traveling employees and corresponding withholding obligations to their employers will enhance interstate commerce and reduce compliance burden on taxpayers and administrative burdens on state tax administration agencies.

Every day, hundreds of thousands of employees across the country are sent by their employers to work in states where employees are not residents. Many of these trips are temporary in nature with the employee conducting business in the non-resident state for a short period of time and then returning to the resident state. Non-resident employees who travel to a state for business purposes are subject to onerous administrative burdens because, in addition to filing federal and resident state income tax returns, they are also legally required to file an income tax return in every other state they travel into, and their employers are required to withhold from their paychecks, if they spend even a single day working in some states. These employees and their employers are forced to comply with a patchwork of confusing, outdated, and sometimes predatory non-resident state income tax laws.

COST Policy Position:
Uniform 30-Day Safe Harbor for Nonresident Employees and Related Employer Withholding Obligations

COST Model Legislation:
Model Legislation for 30-Day Safe Harbor for Nonresident Employees and Their Employers

Map and Chart:
When is an Employer Required to Withhold for Nonresident Employees?

2023 Pending Legislation:

Kansas H.B. 2420

Minnesota S.F. 2346 / H.F. 3119

Nebraska L.B. 173 (carried over to 2024)