Nevada does not impose an individual income tax

# Summary

Nevada does not impose an individual (personal) income tax. There is no Nevada individual income tax return, no withholding on wages, and no filing requirement based on earned income.

The prohibition is constitutional. Nev. Const. art. 10, § 1(9) states that "No income tax shall be levied upon the wages or personal income of natural persons," so reintroducing one would require a constitutional amendment rather than ordinary legislation.

One caveat matters more in Nevada than in most no-income-tax states, and it is easy to miss: a natural person can still be a taxable "business entity" for Nevada's Commerce Tax. See "Where an individual can still owe Nevada tax" below — this is not a theoretical edge case for anyone running a business, rental portfolio, or farm through their personal return.

# Nevada Department of Taxation statement

The Department states the position on its "Income Tax in Nevada" page:

"The State of Nevada does not impose a state income tax on individuals or participate in the administration of Federal Income Tax. This means that if you live and work in Nevada, you do not need to file a state income tax return based on your earned income, such as wages or salaries."

The same page summarises the point as "No State Income Tax on Individuals: Nevada residents do not pay state tax on income earned from salaries, wages, or similar compensation," and adds that the Department "does not require informational copies of Nevada residents' Federal Income Tax forms."

The Department's official newsletter states the rule for individuals and businesses together — Nevada Tax Notes, Issue No. 194 (January 2023):

"The State of Nevada does not impose an individual or business income tax."

# Constitutional basis — Nev. Const. art. 10, § 1(9)

Nevada's prohibition on taxing personal income is constitutional, not merely a legislative choice. Article 10, Section 1 is titled "Uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation; valuation of property; exceptions and exemptions; inheritance and personal income taxes prohibited." Subsection 9 provides in full:

"No income tax shall be levied upon the wages or personal income of natural persons. Notwithstanding the foregoing provision, and except as otherwise provided in subsection 1 of this Section, taxes may be levied upon the income or revenue of any business in whatever form it may be conducted for profit in the State."

Two things follow, and the second is the one people miss.

For individuals, this is an outright prohibition. The legislature cannot tax the wages or personal income of natural persons; doing so would require amending the constitution. That places Nevada alongside Texas rather than Florida, whose constitutional provision caps a personal income tax by reference to a federal credit instead of forbidding it.

For businesses, the same subsection does the opposite — it expressly PERMITS taxes on "the income or revenue of any business in whatever form it may be conducted for profit." Nevada's absence of a corporate or business income tax is therefore a legislative choice, not a constitutional bar, and this is the authority under which the Commerce Tax on business gross revenue is levied. See the corporate and partnership determinations.

The cross-reference in subsection 9 is to subsection 1 of the same section, which requires the Legislature to "provide by law for a uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation" and to secure "a just valuation for taxation of all property, real, personal and possessory," excepting mines and mining claims.

Section 1 has been amended in 1902, 1906, 1942, 1960, 1962, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1989, 1990 and 2002. The section's twelfth amendment was proposed by initiative petition and approved and ratified by the people at the General Elections of 1988 and 1990.

# Where an individual can still owe Nevada tax

Nevada's Commerce Tax is imposed on a "business entity," and that term is defined to reach some natural persons.

NRS 363C.20(1) defines "business entity" to mean "a corporation, partnership, proprietorship, limited-liability company, business association, joint venture, limited-liability partnership, business trust, professional association, joint stock company, holding company and any other person engaged in a business."

NRS 363C.20(2)(b) then excludes "[a] natural person, unless that person is engaging in a business and is required to file with the Internal Revenue Service a Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss from Business, or its equivalent or successor form, a Schedule E (Form 1040), Supplemental Income and Loss, or its equivalent or successor form, or a Schedule F (Form 1040), Profit or Loss from Farm[ing]."

Read together: an individual who files Schedule C, E, or F and is engaging in business is a business entity for this purpose. If that person's Nevada gross revenue in a taxable year exceeds $4,000,000, NRS 363C.200(1) imposes the commerce tax on them.

This is a tax on gross revenue for the privilege of engaging in business, not a tax on the individual's net income — but it is a Nevada tax liability arising on a personal return's business activity, and "Nevada has no individual income tax" should not be read to exclude it.

Separately, an individual who is an employer owes the Modified Business Tax on wages. See the corporate and partnership determinations for that regime.

# Filing consequences

There is no Nevada individual income tax return, no Nevada withholding on wages, and no Nevada estimated payment or extension regime for individual income.

Federal obligations are unaffected. The Department directs all federal income tax questions to the Internal Revenue Service and states that it "is not associated with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and cannot assist with or answer any federal income tax questions."

A Nevada individual who crosses the Commerce Tax threshold described above must file a commerce tax return with the Department within 45 days after the end of the taxable year (NRS 363C.200(2)).

# Coverage and verification

Tax years covered: 2025.

Verified on 2026-08-13 against the Nevada Department of Taxation's "Income Tax in Nevada" page as then published, Nevada Tax Notes Issue No. 194, the Nevada Constitution as published by the Nevada Legislature, and NRS chapter 363C as published in this library.

Sourcing note: the Nevada Legislature's website blocks automated retrieval, so the constitutional text was obtained from that site by the maintainer rather than fetched, and quoted here as supplied. Consistent with it, NRS 363C.20(2)(a) excludes from "business entity" any person "which this State is prohibited from taxing pursuant to the Constitution or laws of the United States or the Nevada Constitution."

# Sources

Nev. Const. art. 10, § 1(9) — https://www.leg.state.nv.us/const/nvconst.html

Nevada Department of Taxation, Income Tax in Nevada — https://tax.nv.gov/about-nevada-department-of-taxation/income-tax-in-nevada/

Nevada Department of Taxation, Nevada Tax Notes, Issue No. 194 (January 2023) — https://tax.nv.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/01-2023-Tax-Notes-Issue-194-compressed.pdf

Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 363C.20, 363C.200, as published in this library.