Moved from District of Columbia to New Jersey Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
You file two part-year returns. District of Columbia taxes the income you received while you lived there, New Jersey 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 · District of ColumbiaForm D-40 (part-year resident)
File a District of Columbia part-year return covering the months you lived in District of Columbia. A part-year resident of District of Columbia reports the income received while a District of Columbia resident, plus any District of Columbia-source income received during the rest of the year, and prorates the deductions and credits to the residency period.
- 2Part-year return · New JerseyForm NJ-1040 (part-year resident)
File a New Jersey part-year return covering the months you lived in New Jersey. A part-year resident of New Jersey reports the income received while a New Jersey resident, plus any New Jersey-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
| District of Columbia | New Jersey | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | 2 (Form D-4A) | 1 (Form NJ-165) |
| Convenience rule | No | Only against convenience-rule states |
| Nonresident return | None — nonresidents exempt | Form NJ-1040NR |
| Part-year return | Form D-40 (part-year resident) | Form NJ-1040 (part-year resident) |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule U (Form D-40) | Schedule NJ-COJ |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue | New Jersey Division of Taxation |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in New Jersey and working in District of Columbia 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: District of Columbia → New JerseyBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- Remote worker: District of Columbia → New JerseyHome state only
- 1099 contractor: District of Columbia → New JerseyHome state, plus the client state if you work there
Other District of Columbia pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from District of Columbia to New Jersey mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
You file two part-year returns. District of Columbia taxes the income you received while you lived there, New Jersey 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 District of Columbia and New Jersey?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a District of Columbia resident belongs on the District of Columbia return and income received afterwards on the New Jersey 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 District of Columbia and New Jersey rules on this page were last checked against District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue and New Jersey Division of Taxation 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.
- District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- New Jersey Division of Taxation — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- New Jersey Division of Taxation — Convenience of the Employer Ruleaccessed 2026-08-07