Moved from California to Maryland Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
You file two part-year returns. California taxes the income you received while you lived there, Maryland taxes the income you received after the move, and each state prorates your deductions and credits to its own slice of the year. The date you changed domicile is the dividing line.
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 · CaliforniaForm 540NR (part-year resident)
File a California part-year return covering the months you lived in California. A part-year resident of California reports the income received while a California resident, plus any California-source income received during the rest of the year, and prorates the deductions and credits to the residency period.
- 2Part-year return · MarylandForm 502 (part-year resident)
File a Maryland part-year return covering the months you lived in Maryland. A part-year resident of Maryland reports the income received while a Maryland resident, plus any Maryland-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
| California | Maryland | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | 4 (Form MW507) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 540NR | Form 505 with Form 505NR |
| Part-year return | Form 540NR (part-year resident) | Form 502 (part-year resident) |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule S | Form 502CR |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | No | Yes |
| Revenue department | California Franchise Tax Board | Comptroller of Maryland |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Maryland and working in California 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: California → MarylandBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- Remote worker: California → MarylandHome state only
- 1099 contractor: California → MarylandHome state, plus the client state if you work there
Other California pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from California to Maryland mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
You file two part-year returns. California taxes the income you received while you lived there, Maryland taxes the income you received after the move, and each state prorates your deductions and credits to its own slice of the year. The date you changed domicile is the dividing line.
How do I split my income between California and Maryland?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a California resident belongs on the California return and income received afterwards on the Maryland 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 California and Maryland rules on this page were last checked against California Franchise Tax Board and Comptroller of Maryland 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.
- California Franchise Tax Board — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Comptroller of Maryland — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Maryland — Form MW507accessed 2026-08-07