It may differ in other states, I don't know.

Pretty sure it's driven purely by where you live.

and get away with not paying Missery State Income Taxes

I only pay state tax in the state where I live.

but client office is in TX. TX has no income tax, but neither my acct nor NJ has ever suggested that I pay that state. Dunno if that helps. My untrained opinion would be that you pay tax where you have residency.

my actual job was and only ever paid taxes to my place of residence. Maybe other states are different, I have no idea.

on the turbo tax answer exchange. The answer exchange is free but there is the chance that nobody will answer your question since it is "off season". https://ttlc.intuit.com/?home=true

New York seems to be a state that wants taxes from telecommuters.

http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Issues/2009/Jun/20091371

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/business/businessspecial2/20tax.html?_r=0

But, it appears that Iowa will give a credit for income taxes paid to another state: http://www.iowa.gov/tax/1040EI/GenInfo/126-130Examples2013.html

I have had clients with zero ties to NY get assessments with NY asserting 100% of their income being taxable in NY. Thus, I can guarantee they will try to assess taxes.

Good news is that you get credit for taxes paid to another state (i.e. if you pay NY taxes, Iowa will give you a credit), so you never pay state taxes twice. Bad news is that NY's rates are higher, so you will end up paying NY's higher rates and then get a credit against your entire Iowa liability.

and some of my work was in Michigan. Ohio said I only had to pay Ohio taxes, Michigan confirmed it. I would check with both (or all) of the states you do business in.

neither with HQ in my home state.

I telecommute 3-4 days a week, I'm located in California and my employers primary offices are here in California, but we have a secondary office in New York City. While we generally use project-shifts to get around New York's tax rules*, there are instances where I have to work directly for the New York office, and New York has a law requiring telecommuters to pay New York taxes on any wages you earn from a New York company.

The good news is that you won't be double taxed. States don't generally tax you for wages taxed by other states. The taxes that I pay to New York are deducted from my California taxes, so the overall tax bill is roughly even. It just makes the paperwork a bit more complicated.

You DO need to be very careful about New York's f'd up "convenience telecommuting" rule though. They have this rule stating that if you're telecommuting because it's a job requirement, or if you are NEVER in New York during the year, then you only have to pay taxes on the portion of the income earned while working for a New York company. But if you are telecommuting for YOUR convenience (the company has an office for you, but you choose to telecommute because it's easier on you or New York is too far away), then you are required to pay New York the taxes on 100% of your income. If that's the case, I would check Iowa law to ensure that they don't have some sort of maximum deductible percentage or something, just to make sure that it's not going to bite you. My New York income was less than 5% of my overall wages last year, so that wasn't an issue for me.

Your best bet is to talk to a tax person there in Iowa though. Find out how Iowa handles residents paying taxes to other states, and whether there are any Iowa laws or limits that could lead to double taxation. Your probably fine, but I wouldn't bet thousands of tax dollars on a "probably".

* Our company has a dedicated code for these kinds of projects. Officially, the SNY code means 'Shifted from New York', but unofficially we all know that it really means 'Screw New York'

agree or you will have a documentation conflict. Otherwise look into reciprocity agreements between the two states, which if they exist will allow you to only pay in your resident state. Worst case is that your employer won't change your status and there is no reciprocity, in which case you will be paying non-resident taxes in one state and resident in the other.