Moved from Maine to Wisconsin Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
Both states want a return, but neither taxes the whole year. Moving from Maine to Wisconsin splits the tax year at the date your residency changed: a Maine part-year return covers everything before it, a Wisconsin 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 · MaineForm 1040ME with Schedule NRH
File a Maine part-year return covering the months you lived in Maine. A part-year resident of Maine reports the income received while a Maine resident, plus any Maine-source income received during the rest of the year, and prorates the deductions and credits to the residency period.
- 2Part-year return · WisconsinForm 1NPR
File a Wisconsin part-year return covering the months you lived in Wisconsin. A part-year resident of Wisconsin reports the income received while a Wisconsin resident, plus any Wisconsin-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
| Maine | Wisconsin | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | 4 (Form W-220) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 1040ME with Schedule NR | Form 1NPR |
| Part-year return | Form 1040ME with Schedule NRH | Form 1NPR |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form 1040ME Schedule A | Schedule OS |
| Nonresident safe harbour | 12 days or a dollar floor | Dollar floor published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Maine Revenue Services | Wisconsin Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Wisconsin and working in Maine 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: Maine → WisconsinBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- Remote worker: Maine → WisconsinHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Maine → WisconsinHome state, plus the client state if you work there
Other Maine pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Maine to Wisconsin mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
Both states want a return, but neither taxes the whole year. Moving from Maine to Wisconsin splits the tax year at the date your residency changed: a Maine part-year return covers everything before it, a Wisconsin part-year return everything after. Income is assigned by when it was received.
How do I split my income between Maine and Wisconsin?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a Maine resident belongs on the Maine return and income received afterwards on the Wisconsin 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 Maine and Wisconsin rules on this page were last checked against Maine Revenue Services and Wisconsin 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.
- Maine Revenue Services — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Wisconsin Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07