Travel Consultant Job Across Multiple States - Filing Tax Requirements Question?

Thanks for that explanation! I'm a bit confused though - if I'm getting just one W-2 from Colorado (headquarters), how will I know how much income to report to each state? Will the W-2 actually break down earnings by state, or do I need to track this myself? Also, do you know if there's an easy way to look up each state's threshold requirements?

Your W-2 should indeed break down your income by state - this usually appears in boxes 15-17 where you'll see separate state codes, state income, and state withholding amounts for each state where you worked. If your employer is not breaking this down correctly, you should speak with your payroll department as this could create problems for you later. For state thresholds, each state has different requirements that change periodically. The best resource is to check each state's department of revenue website or use a tax professional familiar with multistate taxation. Generally speaking, if you're spending 3+ weeks working in a state, you'll likely exceed most states' minimum thresholds and need to file there.

How exactly does taxr.ai determine which states you need to file in? Does it somehow access your location data, or do you have to manually input all your work days for each state? Seems like it would be a lot of work to track all that throughout the year...

Is it actually legit? I've tried so many "tax help" services that ended up being useless or giving wrong info. My situation is even more complicated because I work remotely from different states and my employer doesn't track any of it - they just withhold for my home state. Did it help with figuring out how much you owed each state?

It doesn't access your location data automatically - you input your work locations manually. I kept a simple log of which states I worked in on my calendar, then just entered the date ranges. It was actually pretty straightforward once I had that basic info. Yes, it's definitely legit! I was skeptical too after trying other services. What made this different was it actually analyzed my specific situation rather than giving generic advice. It calculated how much I needed to allocate to each state based on my working days and even factored in things like reciprocity agreements between certain states. It saved me from double-taxation on some income and identified states where I was below the filing threshold.

Wait, how does this even work? I don't understand how a service can get you through to the IRS or state tax agencies faster? Aren't the hold times the same for everyone? Sounds like BS honestly...

I've been trying to call the Minnesota Department of Revenue for weeks about my multistate work situation and can never get through. How much does this Claimyr thing cost? And did the state tax people actually give you useful answers or just generic stuff you could find online?

It works by using their system to navigate the phone trees and wait on hold instead of you. When they reach a human agent, they connect you directly to them. It's not magic - they're just waiting in the phone queue for you. I found the state tax representatives to be extremely helpful with specifics. The Minnesota rep confirmed their exact threshold (more than $12,000 earned or 60+ days in the state requires filing) and explained how to properly allocate income if my W-2 didn't break it down correctly. These were specific answers to my situation, not generic info. And they warned me that employers often get this wrong, so I shouldn't just trust what my HR was telling me.

This is super important! My husband works construction across multiple states and we got hit with a huge penalty from Indiana because his employer wasn't withholding correctly and we didn't know we needed to file there. Now we manually track days worked in each state and file accordingly, regardless of what his W-2 shows.

This is really concerning. I'll definitely be talking to our payroll department. Do you know if there's a specific IRS publication or something I can reference when I talk to them? I feel like they might push back since they've been doing it this way for a while.

There's no single IRS publication since this is a state tax issue, not federal. But each state's department of revenue has employer withholding guidelines. For example, Minnesota's website clearly states employers must withhold MN tax from nonresidents who perform services within Minnesota. I'd suggest a different approach: ask your payroll department for their specific policy on multistate withholding and request documentation on how they determine which states to withhold for. If they can't provide this, mention that you're concerned about potential personal liability for unpaid state taxes. That usually gets their attention since they don't want employees filing complaints with state agencies.

This is terrible advice. The states absolutely do care and their systems are increasingly sophisticated at catching non-filers. I work in state tax compliance and see audits triggered all the time for multistate workers who failed to file. Just because you haven't been caught yet doesn't mean you won't be. The statute of limitations for non-filers can be unlimited in some states!