Hawaii Form HW-6 is the “Employee’s Statement to Employer Concerning Non-Residence in the State of Hawaii,” the declaration a nonresident employee gives to their employer to stop Hawaii state income tax from being withheld from wages.1Department of Taxation. Employer’s Withholding of State Income Tax You download it, answer the residency questions honestly, and hand it to payroll. It never goes to the Department of Taxation; your employer keeps it on file as the documentation supporting the decision not to withhold.2Legal Information Institute. Hawaii Code R 18-235-61-04 – Services Performed by Employees Within and Without the State
Who Can File It
Only nonresidents of Hawaii. The very first question on the form asks whether you are currently a Hawaii resident. Check “Yes” and the instructions tell you to stop; you cannot file HW-6, and your employer must withhold Hawaii income tax from your wages.3State of Hawaii Department of Taxation. Form HW-6 – Employee’s Statement to Employer Concerning Nonresidence in the State of Hawaii
Hawaii determines residency primarily through domicile: your true, fixed, permanent home, the place you intend to return to whenever you’re away. You can rent apartments or stay in hotels in multiple states, but you have only one domicile at a time. If you once lived in Hawaii and claim your domicile has since changed, the burden is on you to prove it with clear and convincing evidence.4Legal Information Institute. Hawiii Code R 18-235-1-03 – Establishing Residency by Domicile
Do You Even Need to File It?
Some nonresident employees are already exempt from Hawaii withholding without filing anything. All four of these must be true: you work in Hawaii for 60 days or fewer during the calendar year, your regular workplace is outside Hawaii, you are paid from an office located outside Hawaii, and your employer reasonably expects you to be in the state for 60 days or less that year.5State of Hawaii Department of Taxation. An Introduction to Withholding State Income Tax By Employers
Construction workers are the exception. If you’re working on a Hawaii construction project for a contractor, your employer must withhold Hawaii income tax regardless of how few days you spend in the state.5State of Hawaii Department of Taxation. An Introduction to Withholding State Income Tax By Employers
If you don’t meet the 60-day test and you’re a nonresident, HW-6 is how you get the exemption.
Filling Out the Form
Download the current revision from the Hawaii Department of Taxation’s withholding forms page.1Department of Taxation. Employer’s Withholding of State Income Tax The Rev. 2025 version covers tax year 2026. It’s a PDF you can print or complete on screen.
Header
Enter the calendar year the form covers, your full legal name, Social Security number, present home address, employer’s name, and employer’s address. Match your other tax records exactly; an SSN mismatch causes payroll processing problems.
Questions 1 and 2: Residency Now and In the Past
Question 1 asks whether you are currently a Hawaii resident. “Yes” ends the form. Question 2 asks whether you have ever been a Hawaii resident. That answer sets your path through the rest of the form. If you’ve never been a resident, complete questions 3 through 23. If you were previously a resident, complete questions 3 through 34; the additional questions cover when and how you gave up your Hawaii domicile.3State of Hawaii Department of Taxation. Form HW-6 – Employee’s Statement to Employer Concerning Nonresidence in the State of Hawaii
Questions 3–8: Domicile, Family, and Days in Hawaii
Question 3 asks for the address of your domicile, the place you consider your permanent home. This is the most consequential answer on the form because domicile drives the whole residency determination.
Question 4 asks where your spouse and dependents live. Family on the mainland supports a nonresidence claim. Questions 5 through 8 cover dependency status, physical days in Hawaii over recent calendar years, and real property ownership in Hawaii and elsewhere. For the physical presence question, estimate total days spent in Hawaii for each year from 2022 through 2026. Any year over 200 days requires an explanation.
Questions 9–17: Ties to Hawaii
This section looks for evidence you’re actually living in Hawaii despite claiming otherwise. It asks whether you hold a Hawaii driver’s license, have Hawaii license plates, send your children to school in Hawaii, keep bank accounts or safe deposit boxes at a Hawaii address, have a Hawaii telephone listing, belong to social, business, or church groups in the state, are registered to vote there, expect your estate to go through probate in Hawaii, or file Hawaii resident income tax returns.
Any “Yes” answer requires a written explanation on the dotted line next to the checkbox.3State of Hawaii Department of Taxation. Form HW-6 – Employee’s Statement to Employer Concerning Nonresidence in the State of Hawaii One “Yes” does not automatically disqualify you. An old, unsurrendered driver’s license can be explained. But multiple “Yes” answers weaken the claim, so the honest, well-explained answer is the one that holds up.
Questions 18–19: Federal Filing and Citizenship
Question 18 asks which IRS service center handles your federal return, a way the Department of Taxation cross-checks where you actually live. Question 19 covers citizenship. Non-U.S. citizens indicate whether they are permanent resident aliens and, if not, the type of visa held.
Questions 20–23: Military, Spouses, and Transportation Workers
These questions cover situations where specific federal protections may apply. Military personnel in Hawaii under orders may be covered by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and their spouses may qualify under the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act. Aviation and navigation workers who pass through Hawaii have their own rules. If any of these apply, enclose a copy of your orders or a letter from your employer with the form.
Questions 24–34: Former Hawaii Residents
If you answered “Yes” to question 2, you must also complete this section. It asks when and why you left Hawaii, where you moved, what steps you took to establish a new domicile, and whether you have kept ties suggesting you never truly abandoned your Hawaii home. The clear and convincing evidence standard applies here: the state presumes your domicile hasn’t changed until you show that it has.
Where to Submit It
Hand the completed form to your employer’s payroll or human resources department. HW-6 is not sent to the Hawaii Department of Taxation. Your employer keeps it as the documentation supporting the decision not to withhold Hawaii income tax on your wages, and it’s the evidence relied on if the department later audits the employer’s withholding practices.2Legal Information Institute. Hawaii Code R 18-235-61-04 – Services Performed by Employees Within and Without the State
After payroll processes the form, check your next pay stub. Hawaii state tax should no longer appear. If it does after a couple of pay periods, follow up with payroll.
What HW-6 Does Not Do
Exemption from withholding is not the same as exemption from the tax. Hawaii taxes nonresidents on income from services performed in Hawaii, from property owned in the state, and from business carried on there.6Justia. Hawaii Code 235-61 – Withholding of Tax on Wages If you earned Hawaii-source income during the year, you may still need to file a Hawaii nonresident return (Form N-15) and pay tax then, even though nothing was withheld from your paychecks. Hawaii’s individual income tax rates run from 1.40% to 11.00%, so a full-year filing liability can be significant.7Department of Taxation. Tax Rate Schedules for Taxable Years Beginning After December 31, 2024
HW-6 vs. HW-4
These forms are commonly confused. Form HW-4, the “Employee’s Withholding Allowance and Status Certificate,” is Hawaii’s equivalent of the federal W-4 and is used by Hawaii residents to tell their employer how much state income tax to withhold based on filing status and exemptions.1Department of Taxation. Employer’s Withholding of State Income Tax If you live in Hawaii, you file HW-4. If you don’t live in Hawaii, HW-6 is the form that tells your employer no Hawaii tax should be withheld at all.
The Cost of a False Statement
File a false HW-6, claiming nonresidence while actually living in Hawaii, and you’re looking at back taxes, interest, and penalties when the Department of Taxation catches the discrepancy. The residency questions are extensive because the state is building a record it can audit against property records, voter rolls, and other state databases. Answer every question truthfully, and use the explanation lines when a “Yes” answer needs context.