Moved from Minnesota to California Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
Expect a part-year filing on each side. The point of a part-year return is that neither state taxes the whole year, so you are not double-taxed by default — but income received close to the move date has to be assigned carefully, and a lingering Minnesota source can still pull a nonresident filing along with it.
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 · MinnesotaForm M1 with Schedule M1NR
File a Minnesota part-year return covering the months you lived in Minnesota. A part-year resident of Minnesota reports the income received while a Minnesota resident, plus any Minnesota-source income received during the rest of the year, and prorates the deductions and credits to the residency period.
- 2Part-year return · CaliforniaForm 540NR (part-year resident)
File a California part-year return covering the months you lived in California. A part-year resident of California reports the income received while a California resident, plus any California-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
| Minnesota | California | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | 2 (Form MWR) | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form M1 with Schedule M1NR | Form 540NR |
| Part-year return | Form M1 with Schedule M1NR | Form 540NR (part-year resident) |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule M1CR | Schedule S |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Minnesota Department of Revenue | California Franchise Tax Board |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in California and working in Minnesota 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: Minnesota → CaliforniaBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- Remote worker: Minnesota → CaliforniaHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Minnesota → CaliforniaHome state, plus the client state if you work there
Other Minnesota pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Minnesota to California mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
Expect a part-year filing on each side. The point of a part-year return is that neither state taxes the whole year, so you are not double-taxed by default — but income received close to the move date has to be assigned carefully, and a lingering Minnesota source can still pull a nonresident filing along with it.
How do I split my income between Minnesota and California?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a Minnesota resident belongs on the Minnesota return and income received afterwards on the California 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 Minnesota and California rules on this page were last checked against Minnesota Department of Revenue and California Franchise Tax Board 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.
- Minnesota Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- California Franchise Tax Board — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07