Moved from Massachusetts to Arizona Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
Both states want a return, but neither taxes the whole year. Moving from Massachusetts to Arizona splits the tax year at the date your residency changed: a Massachusetts part-year return covers everything before it, a Arizona part-year return everything after. Income is assigned by when it was received.
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 · MassachusettsForm 1-NR/PY
File a Massachusetts part-year return covering the months you lived in Massachusetts. A part-year resident of Massachusetts reports the income received while a Massachusetts resident, plus any Massachusetts-source income received during the rest of the year, and prorates the deductions and credits to the residency period.
- 2Part-year return · ArizonaForm 140PY
File a Arizona part-year return covering the months you lived in Arizona. A part-year resident of Arizona reports the income received while a Arizona resident, plus any Arizona-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
| Massachusetts | Arizona | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — flat | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 1-NR/PY | Form 140NR |
| Part-year return | Form 1-NR/PY | Form 140PY |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule OJC | Form 309 |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Massachusetts Department of Revenue | Arizona Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Arizona and working in Massachusetts 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: Massachusetts → ArizonaBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- Remote worker: Massachusetts → ArizonaHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Massachusetts → ArizonaHome state, plus the client state if you work there
Other Massachusetts pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Massachusetts to Arizona mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
Both states want a return, but neither taxes the whole year. Moving from Massachusetts to Arizona splits the tax year at the date your residency changed: a Massachusetts part-year return covers everything before it, a Arizona part-year return everything after. Income is assigned by when it was received.
How do I split my income between Massachusetts and Arizona?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a Massachusetts resident belongs on the Massachusetts return and income received afterwards on the Arizona 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 Massachusetts and Arizona rules on this page were last checked against Massachusetts Department of Revenue and Arizona 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.
- Massachusetts Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Arizona Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07