Live in District of Columbia, work in Virginia
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
Virginia takes
$0
on wages earned there
District of Columbia takes
$2,454
after the credit it gives
Both together
$2,454
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$0
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
agreementVirginia does not tax you at all — the two states have an agreement, and you file a certificate with your employer. Solid is what you actually pay; the faded part of the District of Columbia bar is the credit it hands back. State income tax only — federal and payroll tax apply on top, and a city wage tax may too.
Which state taxes you, and what it costs
- Of all the ways two states can handle a commuter, this is the kindest. District of Columbia and Virginia have agreed that only your home state taxes your wages. Your bill is $2,454, the same as someone working down the road from their house. Hand your employer the non-residence certificate, named in the panel beside this page, so Virginia knows not to withhold.
- District of Columbia is one of 6 states sending this many workers into Virginia, and it sits at number 4 of them, with 44,032 jobs. States used to handling out-of-state workers usually make the filing side of it straightforward.
- District of Columbia and Virginia hold a reciprocity agreement covering wages, so Virginia does not tax this commuter at all and no resident credit is needed. The commuter files the work state's non-residence certificate with the employer — it is named in the panel beside this page — which stops Virginia withholding at source, and owes District of Columbia alone — $2,454 at the reference salary, identical to an earner who never crosses the line. ⚠️ The agreement covers WAGES. Other income sourced to Virginia is outside it, and an employee who does not file the certificate has Virginia tax withheld and must reclaim it on a non-resident return.
- Virginia draws commuters of this scale from 6 states, and District of Columbia ranks number 4 among them with 44,032 jobs. A work state pulling from that many directions tends to have a well-established non-resident filing routine, which is a practical convenience rather than a tax saving.
Where the money goes
A $75,000 salary
- Federal income tax$7,670
- Social Security and Medicare$5,738
- State income tax$3,429
- Yours$58,164
| Federal income tax10.23% | $7,670 |
|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare7.65% | $5,738 |
| State income tax4.57% | $3,429 |
| Yours77.55% | $58,164 |
Which rung you are on
A $75,000 salary
| This rung starts at | $66,500 |
|---|---|
| Next rung starts at | $121,800 |
| Room before it | $46,800 |
Federal only, measured on gross pay — so the first rung is what the standard deduction covers.
The arithmetic, step by step
| Virginia takes, on wages earned there | $0 |
|---|---|
| District of Columbia charges its residents | $2,454 |
| Less the credit District of Columbia gives | $0 |
| Total state tax | $2,454 |
| If you also worked in District of Columbia | $2,454 |
| Difference | $0 |
On a reference salary of $60,000 a year, single filer. Both states run progressive schedules, so the figures do not simply scale — use the tool above for your own salary.
What this page does not cover
- What you see here is state tax between District of Columbia and Virginia. Cities can charge their own tax on top, and a handful do. That layer is not modeled on this page, so treat these figures as the floor rather than the final bill.
- These numbers assume the job in Virginia is your only income, and that you actually go there to work. Both matter. If you earn money in more than one state, the credit District of Columbia gives is worked out as a share rather than the simple cap used here. And if you work from home some days, some states have rules that treat those days as worked at the office anyway.
- Sixty thousand a year is the assumption behind these amounts, chosen because nobody publishes average pay for a route between two states. At your own salary the numbers shift. The conclusion about which of District of Columbia and Virginia takes more usually does not, but the size of the difference can.
- These figures cover the STATE layer only. City and municipal wage taxes sit on top of them and are not included: a commuter into Philadelphia pays its wage tax on top of anything here, and Ohio's municipalities run their own credit system, which this site models in its own families. New York City, by contrast, taxes only its residents, so a commuter into it adds nothing at the city level. Whether Virginia or District of Columbia carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in Virginia and that there is no other income. That matters for the credit: where income comes from several states, District of Columbia limits the credit to the share of its own tax attributable to the Virginia portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in Virginia rather than remotely — several states tax a non-resident's remote days as though they were worked at the employer's location, which reverses the usual expectation and is handled on this site's reciprocity pages.
- Dollar amounts are computed at a stated reference salary of sixty thousand rather than a corridor wage average, which no published source provides per state pair. Because both states' liabilities and the credit between them are functions of the same income, the direction of the District of Columbia to Virginia comparison holds at other salaries even though the amounts do not — with one qualification worth stating, that a progressive schedule can change the SIZE of the gap at higher incomes, and in Virginia's case a bracket crossed on one side and not the other is exactly where that happens.
Questions people ask
Do I pay state tax twice, to District of Columbia and Virginia?
Both states tax the same wages, and then one of them backs off. Virginia taxes what you earn inside it. District of Columbia taxes you on everything, then subtracts what Virginia already took, up to the size of its own bill. You end up paying the larger of the two, which is $2,454 a year on this route.
Does working in Virginia cost me anything extra?
No. The state line is real on a map and invisible on your pay stub here. Your total is $2,454 either way. Keep the paperwork in mind though: crossing a line usually means filing twice even when it changes nothing.
What do I give my employer so Virginia stops taking tax?
One certificate, given to payroll. It is the piece that makes the agreement between District of Columbia and Virginia actually show up in your paycheck rather than only on a return months later.
Do I have to file tax returns in both District of Columbia and Virginia?
Two returns is the normal outcome here, even when only one state ends up taking anything. Virginia generally wants to see a non-resident return from people who work there, and District of Columbia wants your whole picture. It is paperwork rather than extra tax.
What if I work from home in District of Columbia some days instead of going to Virginia?
Working from home usually moves that day's pay out of Virginia and into District of Columbia alone. A handful of states disagree and tax remote days as if you had commuted. This page assumes you actually travel to Virginia, so if a lot of your week is at home the split will differ from what you see here.
How is liability allocated between residence and work state on the same wages?
Both jurisdictions assert a claim on the same wages — Virginia on a source basis, District of Columbia on residence. The residence state grants a credit for tax paid to the source state, limited to the residence state's own liability on that income. Net combined liability therefore equals the greater of the two liabilities rather than their sum, $2,454 at the reference salary, and the split between the two treasuries is the only thing the credit changes.
Why is the marginal state-tax cost of this crossing zero?
Marginal cost is zero because the binding liability is the residence state's. District of Columbia's own charge on this income equals or exceeds Virginia's, so the resident credit absorbs the source-state tax entirely and combined liability equals residence-only liability, $2,454. ⚠️ Zero marginal tax is not zero obligation: a non-resident return may still be required in Virginia.
What administrative step gives effect to the reciprocity exemption?
The exemption is self-executing only on filing: the employee furnishes the work state's non-residence certificate to the employer, which relieves the employer of the obligation to withhold Virginia tax. Absent the certificate the employer withholds, and the employee recovers the amount by filing a Virginia non-resident return — the liability position is identical, the cash-flow position is not.
What filing obligations arise in each state on this corridor?
Generally two. District of Columbia requires a resident return reporting all income; Virginia requires a non-resident return reporting the income sourced to it, which is also the mechanism by which the resident credit is substantiated. ⚠️ A filing obligation is distinct from a liability: a reciprocity exemption or a zero net position removes tax without necessarily removing the return, and the non-resident return is frequently what establishes the credit claimed on the resident one.
How do remote working days affect sourcing between these two states?
Ordinarily wages are sourced to where the services are performed, so days worked remotely from District of Columbia fall outside Virginia's jurisdiction and the source-state apportionment shrinks accordingly. ⛔ The exception is the "convenience of the employer" rule, which several states apply: a non-resident's remote days are sourced to the employer's location unless the remote work is required by the employer rather than chosen by the employee. The figures on this page model in-person attendance in Virginia throughout.