Moved from Delaware to Pennsylvania Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
Both states want a return, but neither taxes the whole year. Moving from Delaware to Pennsylvania splits the tax year at the date your residency changed: a Delaware part-year return covers everything before it, a Pennsylvania 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 · DelawareForm PIT-NON (part-year resident)
File a Delaware part-year return covering the months you lived in Delaware. A part-year resident of Delaware reports the income received while a Delaware resident, plus any Delaware-source income received during the rest of the year, and prorates the deductions and credits to the residency period.
- 2Part-year return · PennsylvaniaForm PA-40 (part-year resident)
File a Pennsylvania part-year return covering the months you lived in Pennsylvania. A part-year resident of Pennsylvania reports the income received while a Pennsylvania resident, plus any Pennsylvania-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
| Delaware | Pennsylvania | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — flat |
| Reciprocity partners | None | 6 (Form REV-419) |
| Convenience rule | Yes — general rule | Yes — general rule |
| Nonresident return | Form PIT-NON | Form PA-40 (nonresident) |
| Part-year return | Form PIT-NON (part-year resident) | Form PA-40 (part-year resident) |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule I (Form PIT-RES) | Schedule G-L |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | Yes | Yes |
| Revenue department | Delaware Division of Revenue | Pennsylvania Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Pennsylvania and working in Delaware 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: Delaware → PennsylvaniaBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- Remote worker: Delaware → PennsylvaniaConvenience-of-the-employer rule — both states tax you
- 1099 contractor: Delaware → PennsylvaniaHome state, plus the client state if you work there
Other Delaware pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Delaware to Pennsylvania mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
Both states want a return, but neither taxes the whole year. Moving from Delaware to Pennsylvania splits the tax year at the date your residency changed: a Delaware part-year return covers everything before it, a Pennsylvania part-year return everything after. Income is assigned by when it was received.
How do I split my income between Delaware and Pennsylvania?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a Delaware resident belongs on the Delaware return and income received afterwards on the Pennsylvania 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 Delaware and Pennsylvania rules on this page were last checked against Delaware Division of Revenue and Pennsylvania 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.
- Delaware Division of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Pennsylvania Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Pennsylvania — Form REV-419accessed 2026-08-07
- Pennsylvania Personal Income Tax Guide — Income Subject to Tax Withholdingaccessed 2026-08-07