Moved from Iowa to Alaska Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
Only the state you left wants a return. Iowa taxes the part of the year you lived there and prorates your deductions to that period. Alaska 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: Iowa tax should stop when your residency does, and it often does not without a prompt.
What you file
- 1Part-year return · IowaForm IA 1040 with Schedule IA 126
File a Iowa part-year return covering the months you lived in Iowa. Alaska has no wage income tax, so the move ends your state filing obligation.
The two states, side by side
| Iowa | Alaska | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — flat | No |
| Reciprocity partners | 1 (Form 44-016) | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form IA 1040 with Schedule IA 126 | Not applicable |
| Part-year return | Form IA 1040 with Schedule IA 126 | Not applicable |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form IA 130 | No income tax |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | Not applicable |
| Local income tax | Yes | No |
| Revenue department | Iowa Department of Revenue | Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Alaska and working in Iowa 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: Iowa → AlaskaHome state only
- Remote worker: Iowa → AlaskaHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Iowa → AlaskaHome state only — estimated payments
Other Iowa pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Iowa to Alaska mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
Only the state you left wants a return. Iowa taxes the part of the year you lived there and prorates your deductions to that period. Alaska 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 Iowa and Alaska?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a Iowa resident belongs on the Iowa return and income received afterwards on the Alaska return. Keep evidence of the move date — a lease, a closing statement, a licence issue date.
How current is this?
The Iowa and Alaska rules on this page were last checked against Iowa Department of Revenue and Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division 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.
- Iowa Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07