Moved from Delaware to Washington Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
Only the state you left wants a return. Delaware taxes the part of the year you lived there and prorates your deductions to that period. Washington has no income tax, so the income you receive after the move faces no state tax at all.
Last verified
The clean part of this move is that only one return follows it. The part that catches people is the withholding: Delaware tax should stop when your residency does, and it often does not without a prompt.
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. Washington has no wage income tax, so the move ends your state filing obligation.
The two states, side by side
| Delaware | Washington | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | No |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | Yes — general rule | No |
| Nonresident return | Form PIT-NON | Not applicable |
| Part-year return | Form PIT-NON (part-year resident) | Not applicable |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule I (Form PIT-RES) | No income tax |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | Not applicable |
| Local income tax | Yes | No |
| Revenue department | Delaware Division of Revenue | Washington State Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Washington and working in Delaware gives:One part-year return — the state you moved to.
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 → WashingtonHome state only
- Remote worker: Delaware → WashingtonHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Delaware → WashingtonHome state only — estimated payments
Other Delaware pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Delaware to Washington mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
Only the state you left wants a return. Delaware taxes the part of the year you lived there and prorates your deductions to that period. Washington has no income tax, so the income you receive after the move faces no state tax at all.
How do I split my income between Delaware and Washington?
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 Washington return. Keep evidence of the move date — a lease, a closing statement, a licence issue date.
How current is this?
The Delaware and Washington rules on this page were last checked against Delaware Division of Revenue and Washington State 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
- Washington State Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07