faculty being considered "hybrid" -- is this a new thing?

[sinenomine]

The HR folks at my institution are asking all full-time faculty to fill out a hybrid work form if they're not on campus five days a week. I pointed out that being on campus full-time has never been an expectation for faculty, but HR says they need this info and associated paperwork because of the tax code: those who live out of state need to be taxed by their home state for the days they work at home. (Since the campus is on a state border, about half of our employees live out of state.) Is anyone else being asked to do this? I'm wondering if it's a new tax thing, or just over-zealousness on the part of new HR staff.

[Kron3007]

The HR folks at my institution are asking all full-time faculty to fill out a hybrid work form if they're not on campus five days a week. I pointed out that being on campus full-time has never been an expectation for faculty, but HR says they need this info and associated paperwork because of the tax code: those who live out of state need to be taxed by their home state for the days they work at home. (Since the campus is on a state border, about half of our employees live out of state.) Is anyone else being asked to do this? I'm wondering if it's a new tax thing, or just over-zealousness on the part of new HR staff.

We have not had this specifically, but our government gave a tax rebate for people who switched to remote work (it was based on the number of days that were remote), so they provided us a letter to support our claims last year.

This is different, but seems in line.

[Puget]

Yes, we had to do the same thing-- this is a legitimate tax issue in areas where people may work in one state but live in another. It was just a quick and simple form for us, not a big deal to do, and if live in the same state as your employer it won't change anything.

[marshwiggle]

Yes, we had to do the same thing-- this is a legitimate tax issue in areas where people may work in one state but live in another. It was just a quick and simple form for us, not a big deal to do, and if live in the same state as your employer it won't change anything.

How has this changed recently? There have been truckers, airline employees, travelling salespeople, etc. for decades whose "work" often happens far from where they live. It's not clear to me how remote work now is any different, since even working remotely the employer is in a defined (and stationary) place. Wouldn't any tax implications in all of those cases simply be based on where the employer is located, rather than where the employee functions?

[mamselle]

As I understand it, transportation workers like those you cite have a "home base" from which their work is figured and paid and to which their pay is sent.

A different scenario is for those, like individuals on, say, a US-AID contract, who are in-country part of the year and out-of-country at other times. They may also have part-time appointments,  and even homes and pay arrangements, from their non-US base to be figured,  as well as hazardous site insurance which their grant may cover.

Those are, indeed, a true joy to figure out and prepare....

M.

[rxprof]

At my institution, the pre-pandemic expectation was that faculty would be in the office 5 days a week. Currently we are being "encouraged" to be in the office 2-3 days a week. However, we do not have to report where we are working each day. Staff are required to report their work location.

One exception is that some faculty have clinical practices and there are rules around where they are allowed to do some work (e.g., the health care professional and patient must both be in the state in which the health care professional holds an active license for virtual encounters). That is closely monitored.

[dismalist]

Yes, we had to do the same thing-- this is a legitimate tax issue in areas where people may work in one state but live in another. It was just a quick and simple form for us, not a big deal to do, and if live in the same state as your employer it won't change anything.

How has this changed recently? There have been truckers, airline employees, travelling salespeople, etc. for decades whose "work" often happens far from where they live. It's not clear to me how remote work now is any different, since even working remotely the employer is in a defined (and stationary) place. Wouldn't any tax implications in all of those cases simply be based on where the employer is located, rather than where the employee functions?

One can find [too many] examples of who owes State income taxes where. I infer a principle: Pay where you live, but a State in which you don't live, but earn the income, want's and gets its fair share of your income tax payment. It's always been that way, before the advent of remote working. In general, the details of States' tax laws see to it that there is no double taxation.

[Now, if only we had exclusively consumption taxes. Then, I'd pay where I eat! :-)]

[sinenomine]

Thanks, everyone. The explanations here were much clearer than those from my HR department!

[Puget]

Thanks, everyone. The explanations here were much clearer than those from my HR department!

The HR person probably has no idea, but somewhere up stream from them is a tax attorney who knows how to make sure the university is following the various tax laws of all the states where employees live regarding how to allocate state tax withholdings. Just be glad you are not that person and fill out the form.

[Hibush]

Yes, we had to do the same thing-- this is a legitimate tax issue in areas where people may work in one state but live in another. It was just a quick and simple form for us, not a big deal to do, and if live in the same state as your employer it won't change anything.

How has this changed recently? There have been truckers, airline employees, travelling salespeople, etc. for decades whose "work" often happens far from where they live. It's not clear to me how remote work now is any different, since even working remotely the employer is in a defined (and stationary) place. Wouldn't any tax implications in all of those cases simply be based on where the employer is located, rather than where the employee functions?

One can find [too many] examples of who owes State income taxes where. I infer a principle: Pay where you live, but a State in which you don't live, but earn the income, want's and gets its fair share of your income tax payment. It's always been that way, before the advent of remote working. In general, the details of States' tax laws see to it that there is no double taxation.

[Now, if only we had exclusively consumption taxes. Then, I'd pay where I eat! :-)]

One consequence of this principle is that professional athletes have to pay state income tax in every state where they played a game and figure our their income on a per-game basis. (If you get a bonus for hitting 20 homers, are you taxed on that bonus only in the state where the 20th was hit?) For the millionaires, paying an accountant to file all those returns isn't too bad. I feel for minor leagues and such where the pay is low and the travel high.

[jerseyjay]

For the past decade, I've worked for employers in three different states. I have always lived in the tristate area, but alternated between two different states. I have always paid taxes in all three. Two as a non-resident and one as a resident. Depending on which state I've actually lived in , the resident taxes could be really high because one state taxes all income earned, anywhere, at the resident rate. But my rate has never actually been based on where I was at any given time, but where I lived. So the OP's situation doesn't really make sense to me because I pay state tax to my home state on income earned in the other states, no matter where I actually do the work.

[glowdart]

For the past decade, I've worked for employers in three different states. I have always lived in the tristate area, but alternated between two different states. I have always paid taxes in all three. Two as a non-resident and one as a resident. Depending on which state I've actually lived in , the resident taxes could be really high because one state taxes all income earned, anywhere, at the resident rate. But my rate has never actually been based on where I was at any given time, but where I lived. So the OP's situation doesn't really make sense to me because I pay state tax to my home state on income earned in the other states, no matter where I actually do the work.

Some states are just super special.

Over a couple of years, I lived in 6 states, three of which were adjoining states and I worked an assortment of jobs in many but not all of those states, and I only had to pay taxes based on what I made when I lived in each state, and only for the amount of time I lived in those states. Like sane public policy.

And then one year I worked & lived in two not adjoining states; I moved to Special State That Operates like JerseyJay's state in July, as academics do, for a new job. That year, I paid taxes in Old State on what I earned in Old State - and only in old state - but when I moved to Special State, I paid taxes to Special State on what I made while living and working in Special State as well as what I made living and working in Old State from January to July.

Because some states are super special.

[Mobius]

Just wait until you have faculty working overseas remotely. The remote worker visa scheme in Portugal is tempting.

[research_prof]

For the past decade, I've worked for employers in three different states. I have always lived in the tristate area, but alternated between two different states. I have always paid taxes in all three. Two as a non-resident and one as a resident. Depending on which state I've actually lived in , the resident taxes could be really high because one state taxes all income earned, anywhere, at the resident rate. But my rate has never actually been based on where I was at any given time, but where I lived. So the OP's situation doesn't really make sense to me because I pay state tax to my home state on income earned in the other states, no matter where I actually do the work.

Some states are just super special.

Over a couple of years, I lived in 6 states, three of which were adjoining states and I worked an assortment of jobs in many but not all of those states, and I only had to pay taxes based on what I made when I lived in each state, and only for the amount of time I lived in those states. Like sane public policy.

And then one year I worked & lived in two not adjoining states; I moved to Special State That Operates like JerseyJay's state in July, as academics do, for a new job. That year, I paid taxes in Old State on what I earned in Old State - and only in old state - but when I moved to Special State, I paid taxes to Special State on what I made while living and working in Special State as well as what I made living and working in Old State from January to July.

Because some states are super special.

I guess special state had higher taxes than old state, so you ended up paying taxes in the old state and the tax difference between special state and old state to the special state?

[glowdart]

For the past decade, I've worked for employers in three different states. I have always lived in the tristate area, but alternated between two different states. I have always paid taxes in all three. Two as a non-resident and one as a resident. Depending on which state I've actually lived in , the resident taxes could be really high because one state taxes all income earned, anywhere, at the resident rate. But my rate has never actually been based on where I was at any given time, but where I lived. So the OP's situation doesn't really make sense to me because I pay state tax to my home state on income earned in the other states, no matter where I actually do the work.

Some states are just super special.

Over a couple of years, I lived in 6 states, three of which were adjoining states and I worked an assortment of jobs in many but not all of those states, and I only had to pay taxes based on what I made when I lived in each state, and only for the amount of time I lived in those states. Like sane public policy.

And then one year I worked & lived in two not adjoining states; I moved to Special State That Operates like JerseyJay's state in July, as academics do, for a new job. That year, I paid taxes in Old State on what I earned in Old State - and only in old state - but when I moved to Special State, I paid taxes to Special State on what I made while living and working in Special State as well as what I made living and working in Old State from January to July.

Because some states are super special.

I guess special state had higher taxes than old state, so you ended up paying taxes in the old state and the tax difference between special state and old state to the special state?

Oh that is far too kind an interpretation.

I had friends who resided in that Special State and who bought cars out of state and paid that sales tax at point of sale, and then they got socked with the full Special State sales tax when they tried to register the car in special state.