Moved from Mississippi 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 Mississippi to Wisconsin splits the tax year at the date your residency changed: a Mississippi part-year return covers everything before it, a Wisconsin 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 · MississippiForm 80-205
File a Mississippi part-year return covering the months you lived in Mississippi. A part-year resident of Mississippi reports the income received while a Mississippi resident, plus any Mississippi-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
| Mississippi | Wisconsin | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — flat | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | 4 (Form W-220) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 80-205 | Form 1NPR |
| Part-year return | Form 80-205 | Form 1NPR |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form 80-160 | Schedule OS |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | Dollar floor published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Mississippi Department of Revenue | Wisconsin Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Wisconsin and working in Mississippi 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: Mississippi → WisconsinBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- Remote worker: Mississippi → WisconsinHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Mississippi → WisconsinHome state, plus the client state if you work there
Other Mississippi pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Mississippi 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 Mississippi to Wisconsin splits the tax year at the date your residency changed: a Mississippi 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 Mississippi and Wisconsin?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a Mississippi resident belongs on the Mississippi 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 Mississippi and Wisconsin rules on this page were last checked against Mississippi Department of Revenue 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.
- Mississippi Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Wisconsin Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07