Moved from Alabama to Kentucky Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
Alabama for the first part of the year, Kentucky for the rest. Each state's part-year return reports the income received during that state's residency period and prorates the standard deduction, exemptions and credits accordingly. Keep evidence of the date you actually changed domicile.
Last verified
Part-year returns are designed so that neither state taxes the whole year. The risk is not double taxation by default; it is misassigning income received near the move date, and losing the proration on deductions and credits.
What you file
- 1Part-year return · AlabamaForm 40 (part-year resident)
File a Alabama part-year return covering the months you lived in Alabama. A part-year resident of Alabama reports the income received while a Alabama resident, plus any Alabama-source income received during the rest of the year, and prorates the deductions and credits to the residency period.
- 2Part-year return · KentuckyForm 740-NP
File a Kentucky part-year return covering the months you lived in Kentucky. A part-year resident of Kentucky reports the income received while a Kentucky resident, plus any Kentucky-source income received during the rest of the year, and prorates the deductions and credits to the residency period.
The two states, side by side
| Alabama | Kentucky | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — flat |
| Reciprocity partners | None | 7 (Form 42A809) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 40NR | Form 740-NP |
| Part-year return | Form 40 (part-year resident) | Form 740-NP |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule CR | Schedule ITC |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | Yes | Yes |
| Revenue department | Alabama Department of Revenue | Kentucky Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Kentucky and working in Alabama gives:Two part-year returns.
Same two states, different situation
The withholding answer turns on how you are paid and where the work happens, not only on which two states are involved.
- W-2 commuter: Alabama → KentuckyBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- Remote worker: Alabama → KentuckyHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Alabama → KentuckyHome state, plus the client state if you work there
Other Alabama pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Alabama to Kentucky mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
Alabama for the first part of the year, Kentucky for the rest. Each state's part-year return reports the income received during that state's residency period and prorates the standard deduction, exemptions and credits accordingly. Keep evidence of the date you actually changed domicile.
How do I split my income between Alabama and Kentucky?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a Alabama resident belongs on the Alabama return and income received afterwards on the Kentucky return, with each state prorating your deductions, exemptions and credits to its own part of the year. Keep evidence of the move date — a lease, a closing statement, a licence issue date.
How current is this?
The Alabama and Kentucky rules on this page were last checked against Alabama Department of Revenue and Kentucky Department of Revenue on 2026-08-07. We re-check the full grid every December after state legislative sessions close, and re-check the convenience-of-the-employer states quarterly because that is where the rules move fastest.
Sources
Every fact above comes from the revenue department that publishes the rule. We do not cite secondary summaries, and we do not restate a figure we could not find at source.
- Alabama Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Kentucky Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07