Questions regarding working remotely in another state- Any input appreciated!!

ande0255

The current situation:

I currently work as a Systems Engineer for my company and work remotely from home every day, as the traffic to the office is a nightmare, and space is really short at the location itself. I don't have express permission by management to do this, however since my supervisor was transferred and not replaced, the manager who oversees our group has not brought it up as an issue.

So my group is being transitioned to a different team that is more Cloud / Data Center Infrastructure based for the MSP I work for, and the role for all the employees of the group is 100% remote, don't even think about the office if you don't want to. So, that is absolutely fantastic for the what my initial thought below was.

My ambitions / goals:

The company knows I am a good worker and I learn / certify / work late / get stuff done, and I am fairly high on this cloud infrastructure totem pole group, so there is incentive to keep me. At the same time, I've come to a point where I would like to move out of state while I have a 100% remote job, as I can drive anywhere with a proof of income to any state to immediately get housing / electricity / internet hooked up like as soon as I drive into town.

The problem:

As soon as I heard 100% remote I thought work from Italy if you want, however upon research, it sounds like there is a lot of red tape taxes / workers laws that 'burden' the employer in a lot of cases to bend to the employees residing states tax laws.

Is this something I can casually run by HR, something I should run by a supervisor, and even then when to really ask how remote they really mean I can work? I work for an MSP that has a presence in a lot of states but none in the Colorado other than they have customers there, but not employees that I am aware of.

To Summarize:

I have successfully worked remotely from about an hour away from the office, however now that my job is officially 100% remote I'd like to move to Colorado while I already have a remote job for proof of income for housing, however my employer would may need to (possibly) pay additional taxes or make labor law exceptions for me based on those in Colorado where I would officially reside.

Any input on how to approach people within my company about it, anyone with experience with this same type of situation, or just really anything would be very greatly appreciated.

I am trying not to get excited about being able to move / travel again, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up to be shattered, please tread softly for you tread upon my dreams!

EDIT:

My MSP has customers across the nation including some in Colorado, though I don't think employees there (yet), so this might not have an issue and might already be familiar with tax laws there. However, insight is still greatly appreciated!

ande0255

Any input on this for anyone now that the work week has begun and maybe there are some more peeps looking at the board?

goatama

I'm curious about this as well. I recently got a new job that has the ability for 100% remote and had been thinking about moving to CO or somewhere in the Pacific NW (I like rain. We don't have any.) But I hadn't thought about the consequences for the employer vis-a-vis taxes for the state I move to.

ande0255

I might float this by HR today just to see what they say. I have the meeting today with the person who will be my new supervisor at the end of the day as an intro sort of meeting, but I don't know that I would bring up moving out of state unless really necessary.

I figure if nothing else, if I go down to "help a family member move" and work there during the week, and I can provide my employer as a source of income to cover an apartment or something, even if they said no I'd at least have the paperwork out of the way and have to hustle to get back into a local IT position.

I don't see them not wanting to help me stay employed through them, but I am preparing for the worst, as I don't believe my company always does whats best for their employees.

Danielm7

Outside of the taxes and such, will the hours of work be an issue, will you be available when they need you with drastic time zone changes and such?

joelsfood

There are definitely some concerns with hours and with HR/tax stuff, but worst case you just ask. it definitely helps that you're already remote.

bgold87

Taxes will change so HR and payroll will have to be involved. Once I got permission from our director to work remotely then HR just took care of it. I can't imagine they will make these changes without permission from a higher up.

ande0255

So I did speak with HR, and they were about as vague and unhelpful as you might expect. Basically saying talk to your senior level management to see if your job and life needs are grounds to work out of state, etc.

I am not sure how best to approach this at this point, as I'm not sure if I want to kick the idea to my manager, alert them and possibly get let go because they know I'm trying to jump state, or at least get to where I'm moving while still on someone payroll / able to show proof of income at that time to get an apartment.

My company was semi recently purchased by an investment firm, and has since been stricter and ultimately less employee friendly, so I am extremely hesitant as to what I'd even say to my manager.

I don't want to be stuck in this state anymore but I want to keep working for you? Do they even accept that as a reason to move out of state?

networker050184

I recently went through this myself as a work from home within the state. What I did was bring it up to my manager (who is the director) about six months in advance that I was thinking about relocating our of state for personal reasons. When I found a place I wanted to go I let him know and he reached out to the HR director and said we really need to keep this guy no matter where he is. They said sure. Everything worked out fine. I didn't need to give any reason why etc.

I guess the bottom line is if you're an integral part of the team, and already work from home anyway, they'll likely work with you as long as there is no corporate red tape around taxes.

ande0255

What is going through my mind, is I have an intro meeting with a brand new supervisor at the end of my shift today, kind of an hour of get to know you's and such via webex.

I am wondering if I should maybe jaunt this past him during that meeting as something that is coming on the horizon, or when I should wait to spring this upon them? I'd like to know yay or nay pretty soon as my lease expires in probably about 7 months, and I don't want to renew it if I don't have to, I am ready to get on the road ASAP.

So would now be a good time to make a move as I am not working with a lot of time, and I have his undivided attention?

networker050184

I'd just bring it up like you did here. Tell him your lease expires in seven months and you're thinking about possibly an out of state move. Would that be cool with the company? The longer you wait to bring it up the less likely it is to happen I think. No one likes to have something sprung on them last minute.

ande0255

I will give that a try and see what he thinks as HR is being 0% help on the situation, thank you for the sound advice.

ande0255

** FOLLOW UP AFTER MY NEW SUPERVISOR MEETING **

Towards the end of the meeting I brought it up just how Networker said, that once my lease expires I was considering moving, but would like to keep my talents within the company and I've already been working remotely successfully for over a year now.

He said he didn't mind as there are team members who are working remotely in the middle of nowhere, he said he would bring it up to the top manager who he also doesn't foresee having any issue given I'm already remote and do good work, the only hold up might be if the resident state has weird tax codes that don't jive with HR.

So I am going to bust my ass to show my worth to the company, so hopefully if there is an HR scenario they don't like, they will make an exception to keep me on their team.

Thank you for the advice, much appreciated!

thomas_

It would be interesting to see if this would have an effect on them having to collect sales tax, general excise tax, etc. for whatever state you move to. By having an employee in a state where they don't other wise have a presence and therefore "tax nexus", might trigger them having to start collecting "whatever that particular state calls it" tax due to them now having nexus.

alias454

As far as the tax thing goes, it will probably end up that you have to pay your taxes, without the company deducting them. I would definitely talk with an accountant though. I work in another state but since it is a state that borders my current state, my company deducts my taxes so I don't have to deal with it. However, if you are a couple of states removed, you may have to keep up with your own taxes. Then there is a state that doesn't require you to pay state taxes like Texas, I wonder how that works.

ande0255

I was going to run it by an accountant I know who has done payroll for 25+ years, though I'm not sure if she is familiar with Colorado payroll tax code, I know from googling just a bit last night that California has some odd ones (Like the employer has to let you roll all PTO days over every year even if the company has a limit or something like that).

Phase 1 was getting supervisor to ok it, phase 2 will be manager to ok it which I think should go fine if I bust said tail to show my value, then step three is getting HR to ok it. Though I think if the manager wants to keep me enough, HR won't have much to do with it except getting me set up to have Colorado's state tax deductions coming out of my pay check.

Also got that big 3% raise for the year end review, I can deal with being broke, finally making that whopping $28/hour.

goatama

ande0255 wrote: »

Also got that big 3% raise for the year end review, I can deal with being broke, finally making that whopping $28/hour.

Now I'm curious where in Colorado you're looking. I was looking at CO Springs and wasn't sure I could afford it.

ande0255

goatama wrote: »

Now I'm curious where in Colorado you're looking. I was looking at CO Springs and wasn't sure I could afford it.

Is that not a livable wage is what you mean? I am looking at Boulder actually to be out of a huge Metro like I am now, however still have a larger city (and access to the gigantic metro if desired). I was looking at places, I pay $1100 right now in MN for a townhouse with 2 bedrooms 1 bath that basically is a vertical apartment.

Down there I have seen listings for houses and such that are a little further away from the city but for the same amount or cheaper, or so my girlfriend had told me, and she is like dog the bounty hunter when it comes to looking for new places to live.

EDIT:

Though Colo Springs was my first idea as it's kind of south and a big city in the middle of nowhere, and it's scenic view all around is amazing, however for the sake of relatives in MN being able to reach us in a shorter road trip I decided on a city in the Northern part of the state.

goatama

ande0255 wrote: »

Is that not a livable wage is what you mean? I am looking at Boulder actually to be out of a huge Metro like I am now, however still have a larger city (and access to the gigantic metro if desired). I was looking at places, I pay $1100 right now in MN for a townhouse with 2 bedrooms 1 bath that basically is a vertical apartment.

Yeah, I realized after I read your response that I was only really looking at houses with several bedrooms. I've got a basketball team's worth of kids that I have to accommodate, so my housing needs are much different than yours would be. Hence why you might not have any issues on that salary being livable. You're also paying more in MN that I was in Tucson for a 4 bedroom house.

Do you have any sites you use for determining CoL in the places you're looking? I've just been using the CNN Money site.