State Taxes for Strike Travelers Might Get Easier

On September 21, 2016, the U.S. House passed the Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Simplification Act of 2015, which would limit states’ authority to impose personal income taxes on nonresident employees for work performed in other states. If enacted, the bill would preclude an employee’s income earned in more than one state from being taxed in any state other than the employee’s state of residence and the state where the employee is present and performing employment duties for more than 30 days in the calendar year. The bill would also exempt employers from withholding and information reporting requirements for employees not subject to income tax under this law. The bill would allow employers to rely on the employee’s annual determination of the time expected to be spent working in a state, absent fraud or collusion.

The definition of "employee" would not include professional athletes, entertainers, and prominent public figures performing for wages or other remuneration on a per-event basis.

The bill text is available HERE.

My comment: For most travelers, this does not change the game; however, those working strikes might be affected. If it passes the Senate and is signed into law, I could see states like CA and NY take it to court.

One tidbit: Senator Lieberman of Connecticut introduced this bill a long time ago and it never got any traction. The purpose of the bill then was to contain border state NY from taking tax revenue from CT :)