tax and compliance concerns are very real. employees need to be transparent so they can personally shoulder the overhead of additional compliance along with all taxes incurred.
The company wouldn't allow it, for very understandable tax reasons. But my family is more important to me than any company. That's the way human beings are supposed to live their lives.
I ended up resigning. The week before I moved, my boss left me a voice mail asking if I could hold off on my job search because the previous-inflexible directors of the company were going to try to work something out. Eventually they did, and now allow anyone in certain positions to work remotely.
It turned out that the company had lost several other employees in the previous weeks over remote work, and based on the long list of open positions on the company's web site, it's having trouble replacing people.
This is the only time in my life when a good number of employees have had more sway over their jobs than their bosses. It's good to see people everywhere taking advantage of this (in a good way), and leveling the playing field with their companies.
Employment is a two-way street. It's not servitude. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to alter society in a way that favors people over profit.
So both profit and people are addressed by more remote work!
If the company uses a payroll services provider like ADP, it really is as easy as having the legal department register for payroll tax (and unemployment tax, if that is a separate registration in that state), a roughly 15-30 minute process, and providing the relevant ID numbers to ADP.
However, payroll compliance and unemployment kick in with a single employee. There is no minimum threshold.