Moved from Colorado to Louisiana Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
Both states want a return, but neither taxes the whole year. Moving from Colorado to Louisiana splits the tax year at the date your residency changed: a Colorado part-year return covers everything before it, a Louisiana part-year return everything after. Income is assigned by when it was received.
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 · ColoradoForm DR 0104 with Schedule DR 0104PN
File a Colorado part-year return covering the months you lived in Colorado. A part-year resident of Colorado reports the income received while a Colorado resident, plus any Colorado-source income received during the rest of the year, and prorates the deductions and credits to the residency period.
- 2Part-year return · LouisianaForm IT-540B
File a Louisiana part-year return covering the months you lived in Louisiana. A part-year resident of Louisiana reports the income received while a Louisiana resident, plus any Louisiana-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
| Colorado | Louisiana | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — flat | Yes — flat |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form DR 0104 with Schedule DR 0104PN | Form IT-540B |
| Part-year return | Form DR 0104 with Schedule DR 0104PN | Form IT-540B |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form DR 0104CR | Schedule G (Form IT-540) |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | Yes | No |
| Revenue department | Colorado Department of Revenue — Taxation Division | Louisiana Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Louisiana and working in Colorado 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: Colorado → LouisianaBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- Remote worker: Colorado → LouisianaHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Colorado → LouisianaHome state, plus the client state if you work there
Other Colorado pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Colorado to Louisiana mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
Both states want a return, but neither taxes the whole year. Moving from Colorado to Louisiana splits the tax year at the date your residency changed: a Colorado part-year return covers everything before it, a Louisiana part-year return everything after. Income is assigned by when it was received.
How do I split my income between Colorado and Louisiana?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a Colorado resident belongs on the Colorado return and income received afterwards on the Louisiana 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 Colorado and Louisiana rules on this page were last checked against Colorado Department of Revenue — Taxation Division and Louisiana 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.
- Colorado Department of Revenue — Taxation Division — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Louisiana Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07