New York · Remote Work & the Convenience Rule
Working from home out of state? New York probably still taxes those days.
If your assigned office is in New York, the days you choose to work from your home in another state generally still count as New York work days. Here is the actual rule, from the regulation and the cases that upheld it.
I live in New Jersey (or Connecticut) and work from home 3 days a week for a Manhattan employer. Does New York tax those home days?
Commonly misreportedUsually yes. Under 20 NYCRR 132.18(a), a nonresident whose assigned or primary office is in New York must count any normal work day performed at home as a New York day — unless the work was performed out of state 'of necessity, as distinguished from convenience' of the employer. Choosing to skip the commute is convenience, so those days stay in the New York numerator of your allocation fraction.
Didn't COVID and the remote-work era end the convenience rule?
Commonly misreportedNo. In May 2025 the New York Tax Appeals Tribunal reaffirmed the convenience rule for COVID-era telecommuting in the second Zelinsky case, and the Court of Appeals had already upheld the rule's constitutionality in 2003. There is no pandemic or remote-work exception in the regulation.
Is there any way home-office days count as non-New York days?
Yes — if your home office qualifies as a 'bona fide employer office' under the Tax Department's factor test in TSB-M-06(5)I (a primary factor such as specialized facilities near your home, or enough secondary and other factors such as the employer requiring the location, a formal employer office there, employer-paid expenses). It is a demanding standard: an ordinary home workspace maintained for your own convenience does not pass.
What if my employer assigned me to work outside New York entirely?
Days worked at a location where the employer requires you to be — a genuine out-of-state assignment, client site, or bona fide employer office — are days of necessity and allocate outside New York. Keep contemporaneous records: the Tribunal requires day counts to be based on performance of duties, not estimates.
Get a citation-verified answer for YOUR facts
$0.50 · answer grounded in the actual New York statutes, regulations and cases cited above — every claim machine-verified before you see it
Related New York tax questions: Nonresident Income Allocation · Statutory Residency (183-Day Rule) · Stock Options & RSUs
Tax intelligence, not tax advice. Every answer above cites primary law you can check; a qualified professional should review your specific situation before filing. TaxPulse — a PulseNetwork intelligence engine.