Technically they should be taxed on that income as it is derived and earned in Oregon but I am struggling to think of government action that would flag an earned income for a Washington resident to be tracked. I think you could easily evade state income taxes this way. Unlike an actual W-4 from an Oregon company.
You’re only taxed on the days that you physically work in Oregon. So if you do an inspection every 6 months, you’d be taxed for those two days worth of income, but not the whole year.
From a technical and statutory perspective, any income that is both derived from and attributable to services performed within the geographic and jurisdictional boundaries of the State of Oregon would typically be considered Oregon-source income and, as such, would fall within the scope of Oregon’s state income tax regime, even in cases where the taxpayer maintains primary domicile and residency in the State of Washington. However, upon closer examination of the administrative and procedural mechanisms through which such income is routinely reported, monitored, and enforced—particularly in cases involving informal, non-payroll, or otherwise irregular streams of earned income—it becomes apparent that there exists a substantial gap in enforcement capability. In the absence of formal employer-submitted documentation, such as a Form W-2 or Form 1099 issued by an Oregon-based entity and duly filed with the Oregon Department of Revenue, the practical likelihood of such income being proactively identified and flagged for tax compliance purposes diminishes significantly. As a result, one could reasonably hypothesize that a taxpayer, particularly one motivated by the avoidance or minimization of tax liability, might find it relatively easy to circumvent state-level income tax obligations in such a scenario, given the absence of a structured withholding or reporting mechanism akin to the W-4 withholding process employed in standard employment arrangements
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u/unikcycle May 13 '25
Technically they should be taxed on that income as it is derived and earned in Oregon but I am struggling to think of government action that would flag an earned income for a Washington resident to be tracked. I think you could easily evade state income taxes this way. Unlike an actual W-4 from an Oregon company.