Moved from California to Mississippi Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
Both states want a return, but neither taxes the whole year. Moving from California to Mississippi splits the tax year at the date your residency changed: a California part-year return covers everything before it, a Mississippi part-year return everything after. Income is assigned by when it was received.
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 · 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 · MississippiForm 80-205
File a Mississippi part-year return covering the months you lived in Mississippi. A part-year resident of Mississippi reports the income received while a Mississippi resident, plus any Mississippi-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 | Mississippi | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — flat |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 540NR | Form 80-205 |
| Part-year return | Form 540NR (part-year resident) | Form 80-205 |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule S | Form 80-160 |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | California Franchise Tax Board | Mississippi Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Mississippi 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 → MississippiBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- Remote worker: California → MississippiHome state only
- 1099 contractor: California → MississippiHome state, plus the client state if you work there
Other California pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from California to Mississippi mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
Both states want a return, but neither taxes the whole year. Moving from California to Mississippi splits the tax year at the date your residency changed: a California part-year return covers everything before it, a Mississippi part-year return everything after. Income is assigned by when it was received.
How do I split my income between California and Mississippi?
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 Mississippi 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 Mississippi rules on this page were last checked against California Franchise Tax Board and Mississippi 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.
- California Franchise Tax Board — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Mississippi Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07