Moved from Arkansas to Montana Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
Expect a part-year filing on each side. The point of a part-year return is that neither state taxes the whole year, so you are not double-taxed by default — but income received close to the move date has to be assigned carefully, and a lingering Arkansas source can still pull a nonresident filing along with it.
Last verified
A mid-year move splits the tax year in two, and each state taxes its own half. That is a residency question, so the machinery that governs commuters — reciprocity agreements, convenience rules, nonresident withholding — is beside the point here.
What you file
- 1Part-year return · ArkansasForm AR1000NR (part-year resident)
File a Arkansas part-year return covering the months you lived in Arkansas. A part-year resident of Arkansas reports the income received while a Arkansas resident, plus any Arkansas-source income received during the rest of the year, and prorates the deductions and credits to the residency period.
- 2Part-year return · MontanaForm 2 with the nonresident/part-year schedule
File a Montana part-year return covering the months you lived in Montana. A part-year resident of Montana reports the income received while a Montana resident, plus any Montana-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
| Arkansas | Montana | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | 1 (Form MW-4) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form AR1000NR | Form 2 with the nonresident/part-year schedule |
| Part-year return | Form AR1000NR (part-year resident) | Form 2 with the nonresident/part-year schedule |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form AR1000TC | Form 2 (credit for income tax paid to another state) |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration | Montana Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Montana and working in Arkansas 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: Arkansas → MontanaBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- Remote worker: Arkansas → MontanaHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Arkansas → MontanaHome state, plus the client state if you work there
Other Arkansas pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Arkansas to Montana mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
Expect a part-year filing on each side. The point of a part-year return is that neither state taxes the whole year, so you are not double-taxed by default — but income received close to the move date has to be assigned carefully, and a lingering Arkansas source can still pull a nonresident filing along with it.
How do I split my income between Arkansas and Montana?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a Arkansas resident belongs on the Arkansas return and income received afterwards on the Montana 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 Arkansas and Montana rules on this page were last checked against Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration and Montana 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.
- Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Montana Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07