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INSTRUCTIONS                         STATE OF HAWAII — DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION 
FORM HW-6 
(REV. 2023)                             INSTRUCTIONS FOR FORM HW-6 
                            Employee’s Statement to Employer Concerning  
                                     Nonresidence in the State of Hawaii 
            (NOTE: References to “married” and “spouse” are also references to “in a civil union” and “civil union partner,” respectively.)

General Information                                onerous or impracticable of enforcement,          consultations. Withholding is required on the 
                                                   the  Director  may  grant  permission  to  an     wages for the period of service in the State, 
Purpose of Form                                    employer for exception from the withholding       but is not required on the wages for the pe-
If you are a nonresident employee and with-        requirement.                                      riod  Employee  is  outside  the  State,  if  Em-
holding is not required on your wages (see         (b) Wages, salaries, tips, commissions, and       ployee is a nonresident of the State.
“When Withholding is Not Required”), you           other compensation received on or after           Employee, a resident of Washington, is hired 
must file Form HW-6 with your employer in          January 1, 2009, by a servicemember’s             on the mainland by a local company having 
order to qualify for the exemption from with-      civilian spouse for services performed by         a construction contract for work on a Pacific 
holding on your wages. By filing Form HW-6         the  servicemember’s  spouse  in  Hawaii          island not part of the State. All of Employee’s 
with your employer, you are informing your         as  an  employee,  if all  of  the  following     services are performed on that island. With-
employer that you are a nonresident.               conditions are met:                               holding is not required on Employee’s wages 
When Withholding is Required                       •  The servicemember (a member of the             if Employee is a nonresident of the State.  
Withholding is required on:                              uniformed  services  as  defined  in  10    On the other hand, withholding is required 
                                                         U.S.C. section 101 (a)(5)) is present       on the wages of employees performing like 
(a) Wages for services performed in Hawaii,              in  Hawaii  solely  in  compliance  with    services  for  this  company  who  are  Hawaii 
 and                                                     military or naval orders, and               residents or do not make the required show-
                                                                                                     ing of nonresidence.
(b) Wages  for  services  performed outside            The spouse is in Hawaii solely to be 
 Hawaii if:                                              with the servicemember.                     Employee, a resident of Nevada, is hired on 
                                                                                                     the mainland by a construction industry con-
 •  The services are performed by an               •  The spouse and servicemember are               tractor to work in Hawaii on a federal contract. 
      employee  whose regular place of                   domiciled in the same state and that        All of Employee’s services are performed in 
      employment for services for the em-                state is not Hawaii.                        Hawaii during a period that is less than 60 
      ployer is in Hawaii, or                            Sec. 302 of the Veterans Benefits           days in the aggregate for the calendar year. 
    The wages are paid out of an office                and Transitions Act of 2018 - Resi-         Withholding is required on any employee of 
      in Hawaii, or the field office of an em-           dence  of spouses  for service-             a construction industry contractor engaged 
      ployer whose head office is in Hawaii.             members amends SCRA to allow                in contracting work in Hawaii regardless of 
When Withholding is Not Required                         the spouse of a servicemember to            the employee’s state of residency or how 
                                                         elect to use the same state of resi-        long the employee is in Hawaii.
(Note: Employers and employees who are                   dence as the servicemember for 
exempt from the withholding provisions are               state or local tax purposes.                Resident
not necessarily exempt from the Hawaii In-
come Tax Law.)                                     For  more  information  see  Tax  Information     A resident is taxed on income from all 
Withholding is not required on:                    Release  (TIR)  2010-01 “Military  Spouses        sources.
                                                   Residency Relief Act.” and Tax Announce-          A Hawaii resident is (1) Every individual do-
(a) Wages for services performed in Hawaii,        ment No. 2019-01, “Military Spouses Relief        miciled in Hawaii, and (2) Every other indi-
 if all of the following conditions are met:       Act.”                                             vidual  whether  domiciled  in  Hawaii  or  not, 
 •  The employee establishes  that  the            (c) Wages  for  services  performed outside       who resides in Hawaii for other than a tem-
      employee is a nonresident,                   Hawaii if the employee establishes that           porary or transitory purpose.
 •  The employee is performing services            the employee is a nonresident.                    An  individual  domiciled  outside  Hawaii  is 
      in the State for an aggregate of not         The following examples should help to illus-      presumed to be a resident if the individual 
      more than 60 days during the calen-          trate when withholding is or is not required:     spends more than 200 days in Hawaii dur-
      dar year,                                                                                      ing the taxable year. This presumption may 
                                                   Employee, a resident of Oregon, is engaged        be overcome by evidence satisfactory to the 
 •  The employee is paid for the employ-           to teach in Hawaii for one summer. Though         Department  of  Taxation  (Department)  that 
      ee’s services in the State from an of-       Employee is a nonresident, withholding is re-     the individual maintained a permanent place 
      fice outside the State,                      quired on Employee’s wages.                       of abode outside the State and is in the State 
 •  The employee’s regular place of em-            Employee,  a  resident  of  Hawaii,  is  sent  to for a temporary or transitory purpose. No 
      ployment (where the employee regu-           the mainland for special training. Withhold-      person shall be deemed to have gained or 
      larly  performs  services  for  the  em-     ing is required on Employee’s entire wages.       lost a residence simply because of the per-
      ployer) is outside the State, and                                                              son’s presence or absence in compliance 
                                                   Employee, a resident of Hawaii, is a promo-
 •  The  employer  does  not  reasonably           tional sales representative for a mainland        with military or naval orders of the United 
      expect the employee to perform ser-          manufacturer. Employee has a home in Ho-          States, while engaged in aviation or naviga-
      vices  in  the  State  an  aggregate  of     nolulu  and  covers  all  of  the  islands.  From tion, or while a student at any institution of 
      more than 60 days during the calen-          time to time, Employee goes to the mainland       learning. See TIR No. 90-3,  “Income Taxa-
      dar year.                                    to attend sales conferences. Withholding is       tion and Eligibility for Credits of an Individual 
However, a nonresident employee perform-           required on Employee’s entire wages.              Taxpayer Whose Status Changes from Resi-
                                                                                                     dent to Nonresident or from Nonresident to 
ing  services  for  a  contractor  as  defined  in Employee, a resident of California, is brought    Resident” and TIR No. 97-1,  “Determination 
section 237-6(1), Hawaii Revised Statutes,         to the State by a firm having a contract to       of Residence Status.”
will not qualify for a withholding exemption       conduct a survey for a local company. The 
when the contractor is performing work for         work  commences  in  February  and  is  not       Nonresident
a  construction  project  located  in  Hawaii.     completed until June. During this time, Em-       A Hawaii nonresident is an individual who is 
Additionally, if the Director of Taxation finds    ployee makes a trip back to the mainland for      in Hawaii for a temporary or transient pur-
that the withholding requirement is unduly 



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INSTRUCTIONS
FORM HW-6 
(REV. 2023)                                                                                                                          PAGE  2
pose, and whose permanent domicile is not         and Spouses and Dependents of Persons in           Filing Form HW-7. If withholding is not re-
Hawaii.                                           the Military,” and TIR No. 97-1, “Determina-       quired on your wages under items (a) or (b)  
A nonresident must file an Individual Income      tion of Residence Status.”                         of “When Withholding is Not Required,” your 
Tax Return—Nonresident and Part-Year              Example  1  —  A  Hawaii  resident  who  en-       employer must file and mail Form HW-7, Ex-
Resident (Form N-15), if required to do so.       lists in the military normally will remain a       emption  From  Withholding  on  Nonresident 
A nonresident will be taxed on income from        Hawaii resident regardless of the length of        Employee’s Wages, along with the original 
Hawaii sources only. A nonresident married        absence from Hawaii while stationed outside        Form HW-6, (employer will keep a copy of  
to  a  Hawaii  resident  may  choose  to  file  a of Hawaii.                                         Form HW-6 for their records) to:
joint resident return with the resident spouse;   Example 2  —  Foreign  students  who  are          Hawaii Department Of Taxation 
however, the nonresident will then be             granted entry into the United States on “F”        P. O. Box 1425 
taxed on all income from all sources.             visas  are  nonresidents  for  Hawaii  tax  pur-   Honolulu, Hawaii 96806-1425 
Part-Year Resident                                poses. Researchers and faculty members 
                                                  who are granted entry into the United States       Telephone: 808-587-4242 
A part-year resident is an individual who was 
                                                  on “H,” “J,” or “Q” visas and who have been        Toll-Free: 1-800-222-3229
a Hawaii resident for part of the year, and a 
                                                  in  Hawaii  for  more  than  200  days  during 
nonresident of Hawaii during the other part                                                          If withholding is not required on your wages 
                                                  the taxable year may be considered Hawaii 
of the year. This includes those who became                                                          under item (c) of “When Withholding is Not 
                                                  residents.
Hawaii residents during the year and those                                                           Required,” your employer does not have to 
who gave up being a Hawaii resident during        Example 3 — Spouses of those in the mili-          file Form HW-7 with the Department. With-
the year.                                         tary service do not become Hawaii residents        holding is not required on your wages.  Your 
                                                  if  their  principal  reason  for  moving  to  Ha- employer will keep your Form HW-6 for their 
A part-year resident must file an Individual 
                                                  waii was the transfer of the service member        records.
Income Tax Return—Nonresident and Part-
                                                  spouse to Hawaii, and if it is their intention 
Year Resident (Form N-15), if required to do                                                         Effective  Date.  Your employer shall stop 
                                                  to  leave  Hawaii  when  the  service  member 
so. A part-year resident will be taxed on all                                                        withholding taxes from your wages on or 
                                                  spouse either is transferred to another mili-
income from all sources during the period of                                                         after the first payroll period or the first pay-
                                                  tary station or leaves the service.
residency, and on income from Hawaii sourc-                                                          ment of wages after Form HW-7 and Form 
es only during the period of nonresidency.        Example 4 — A Hawaii resident who marries          HW-6 are filed with the Department. If your 
                                                  a nonresident will remain a Hawaii resident        employer is not required to file Form HW-7 
Domicile Defined                                  unless the three requirements for changing         with the Department, your employer shall 
The term “domicile” means the place where         the Hawaii resident’s domicile are also met.       stop withholding taxes from your wages on 
an  individual  has  a  true,  fixed,  permanent  (Refer  to  “Domicile  Defined”  on  page  1.)     or after the first payroll period or the first pay-
home  and  principal  establishment,  and  to     This situation applies in reverse to a nonresi-    ment of wages after you give Form HW-6 to 
which place the individual has, whenever          dent who marries a resident. A person’s resi-      your employer.
absent, the intention of returning. It is the     dence status will not change just because of       Investigation of Nonresidency Status.               
place in which an individual has voluntarily      marriage.                                          Your employer shall withhold taxes from your 
fixed the habitation of the individual and in-                                                       wages if your employer is notified by the De-
dividual’s family, not for a mere special or      Line-by-line Instructions                          partment that your residency status is being 
temporary purpose, but with the present           At the top of the form:                            investigated. Notice of the investigation and 
intention  of  making  a  permanent  home.        (1) Enter  your  full  name  and  social           the Department’s determination will be sent 
Three things are necessary to create a new        security number. If you are an alien               to both you and your employer. A notice of 
domicile:  first,  an  abandonment  of  the  old  and were issued  an individual taxpayer            the Department’s determination shall be ef-
domicile; second, the intent to establish a       identification  number  (ITIN)  by  the            fective for the first payment of wages made 
new domicile; and third, an actual physical       Internal  Revenue  Service,  enter  your           on or after the first day of the calendar month 
presence in the new domicile. Once a domi-        ITIN.                                              which is at least 30 days after notice from the 
cile is established, the intent to abandon it is                                                     Department is received. At the option of your 
not itself sufficient to create a new domicile;   (2) Enter your current street or mailing 
a new domicile must be shown.                     address.                                           employer, the Department’s determination 
                                                                                                     may go into effect at an earlier payroll period.
Reminder:  If you are in Hawaii because of        (3) Enter your employer’s name, including 
military  orders  and  do  not  intend  to  make  any business or trade name, and  current           Change of Status. If at anytime your resi-
Hawaii your permanent home, you are not           mailing address.                                   dency status changes, you must notify your 
                                                                                                     employer of the change in status within 10 
considered a Hawaii resident for income tax       Lines 1 to 23.  Answer all these questions.        days.  Your employer then must notify the 
purposes even though you are in the State         Line 5. Check “Yes” if you can be claimed          Department of the change in your residency 
for more than 200 days during the taxable         as a dependent on another person’s income          status. The change in status shall go into ef-
year.                                             tax return, whether or not that person actu-       fect for the first payment of wages made on 
Resident vs. Nonresident Examples                 ally claims you.                                   or after the first day of the calendar month 
Note:  For more information, see TIR No. 90-      Lines 24 to 34.    Complete all these lines if     which is at least 30 days after the Depart-
3, “Income Taxation and Eligibility for Cred-     you checked “Yes” on line 2.                       ment  is  notified. At  the  option  of  your  em-
                                                                                                     ployer, the change in residency status may 
its of an Individual Taxpayer Whose Status        Signature & Date.  Sign and date your form.        go into effect at an earlier payroll period if 
Changes from Resident to Nonresident or           It is not considered a valid form unless you       you are notified of the change.
from Nonresident to Resident,” TIR No. 90-        sign it.
                                                                                                     Note to Employers: See the instructions to 
10, “Clarification of Taxation and the Eligibil-  Filing  Form  HW-6.  Complete  and  return         Form HW-7 upon receipt of Form HW-6 from 
ity for Personal Exemptions and Credits of        Form HW-6 to your employer.                        your employee.
Residents and Nonresidents in the Military 






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