"Zuckerberg said Facebook will monitor adherence by checking where employees access its VPN. Facebook also uses its own apps' to track employee locations"
Allegedly because:
"Employees who attempt to wiggle around those compensation adjustments will be subject to “severe ramifications,” he said, as the company needs to account for employee locations to avoid violating tax laws."
Couldn't I run a VPN on my laptop into SF Bay then run a second VPN session in a VM to show I'm connecting from SFO? Seems there are ways to play the system.
This would be a spectacularly bad idea. Renting a PO box (or other front address) in a high cost location such as SF or NYC is going to open you up to tax liability there. At the same time, your actual legal state of residence is also going to want their share. You might get lucky, with your state of residence giving you credit for taxes paid in another state. But that’s not a given. Federal plus multiple states tax returns are a PITA.
But the biggest reason not to do it is that you’re presumed to be local: How many times are you going to “enjoy” paying walk up airfare from Raleigh Durham to SF because you need to give an in-person presentation the next day and you were assigned because you’re the only person on the team who isn’t remote?
You should fact check your fact check. New York and California income taxes are based on residency. If you live in one of these states and work in a different state, then you will owe income tax to your home state. New York City also has its own income tax which is also based on residency in the city.
> Local taxes are owed based on the physical location the work is done.
Actually, state law varies; it's quite possible for taxes to be due in both the state in which work is done and the employee’s state of residence, or either one of those alone, or neither.
I think the (perfectly sensible) idea is to keep "working" from SF to get a large bump in salary from Facebook (or others) that should more than offset the higher taxes.
It just happens that your living expenses dropped because you are now sharing space with a bunch of other developers in nano-flats (in a converted warehouse with a huge VPN relay pipe). In reality you are working from your second home (say, a vacation property at some cheaper place). I am sure it is somewhat irregular, but I am not sure it is illegal and while 100% against FB policy I do not think they can really act against you without FBI-style anti-employee snitching, which can easily backfire.
