Moved from Louisiana to Rhode Island Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
Louisiana for the first part of the year, Rhode Island for the rest. Each state's part-year return reports the income received during that state's residency period and prorates the standard deduction, exemptions and credits accordingly. Keep evidence of the date you actually changed domicile.
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 · 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.
- 2Part-year return · Rhode IslandForm RI-1040NR
File a Rhode Island part-year return covering the months you lived in Rhode Island. A part-year resident of Rhode Island reports the income received while a Rhode Island resident, plus any Rhode Island-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
| Louisiana | Rhode Island | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — flat | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form IT-540B | Form RI-1040NR |
| Part-year return | Form IT-540B | Form RI-1040NR |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule G (Form IT-540) | Form RI-1040NR Schedule II |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Louisiana Department of Revenue | Rhode Island Division of Taxation |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Rhode Island and working in Louisiana 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: Louisiana → Rhode IslandBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- Remote worker: Louisiana → Rhode IslandHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Louisiana → Rhode IslandHome state, plus the client state if you work there
Other Louisiana pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Louisiana to Rhode Island mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
Louisiana for the first part of the year, Rhode Island for the rest. Each state's part-year return reports the income received during that state's residency period and prorates the standard deduction, exemptions and credits accordingly. Keep evidence of the date you actually changed domicile.
How do I split my income between Louisiana and Rhode Island?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a Louisiana resident belongs on the Louisiana return and income received afterwards on the Rhode Island 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 Louisiana and Rhode Island rules on this page were last checked against Louisiana Department of Revenue and Rhode Island 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.
- Louisiana Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Rhode Island Division of Taxation — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07